Peady’s Selling Engagement sponsored by IRD Prospector
A long time ago one of my sales managers said to me “Stephen when a businessman invites you into his office for a meeting you are under some clear obligations….your job is to be interesting, useful and engaging. It’s not to sell something but to let him buy something”.
That was 25+ years ago and it was great advice.
Your job
As a salesperson (or whatever fancy title you use to describe your role) you sit opposite the client or potential client and need to be interesting, provide useful information and ask useful questions while all the time engaging them. Along the way you need to provide the vibe for the meeting and take the pressure off the client who often isn’t sure why you are there or sometimes doesn’t want you to be there!
Let me be clear it’s your job to set up and effectively conduct a mutually beneficial meeting.
Do you?
Well are you that salesperson? When you turn up for a meeting do provide something interesting and useful? Are you engaging? Is the meeting always mutually beneficial?
The truth
It’s an open secret that many media salespeople are only in it for themselves. They know it the clients know it and that’s where it goes pear shaped.
Author Michael Corbett in his article “Understanding the Objectives of Media Sales People” tells local advertisers “Media salespeople are trained to sell inventory, their inventory not yours!” Ouch! Who told him to share that bit of info?
The best salesperson
I have been privileged to work with some of the best – in fact I’m thinking of a couple who I work with nearly every day and funnily enough they not only know their role, they excel at it. As a result the client relaxes and opens up in their meetings and in fact may look forward to it.
These top performers bring coffee, bring ideas, bring solutions and sometimes bring attitude to their meetings. They bring value too.
Amazingly their clients buy. I guess they must be lucky.
About the author
Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.
He can be contacted at [email protected]
