Sales Story
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010Sales Hiring Update motivating sales story today…
Hello hiring managers. For the monthly update, I’d like to share a sales story that happened in our office last week.
We’re located in a commercial area for easy access and each recruiter works with the ability to close the door and converse privately.
Last Wednesday, someone came in to the lobby and was making unfamiliar noises that resonated through our entire office, startling everyone. There wasn’t anyone in the lobby to greet them, so this person started yelling loudly, making sounds like someone was trying to speak and couldn’t.
We all ran out of our offices and encountered a sales person cold calling to sell a sign language booklet. The paper she abruptly put up to my face displayed the deaf alphabet.
I’ve seen this before but it didn’t have the impact of her approach. My first instinct was to say “no thank you” and when I did she nodded ok and without hesitation kept walking out the door to the business across the street. No car, just walking door to door.
This sales process was as pure as it gets; prospecting for a client, smiling and happy to make a presentation…then moving on after our refusal. She was on her way to a yes answer and definitely understood it’s a numbers game. There was no hesitation in her approach and she seemed driven to get to her next prospect.
By the time I came to my senses, she had walked across the street and was briskly working her way through a retail shopping area, when I caught up with her. She recognized me, smiled briefly and again when I handed her a ten dollar bill. She smiled a thank you, putting the money away and kept walking. I visualized winning the lottery and handing her more, but not so today.
Being an emotional, Irish sales person myself, the whole event made me appreciate our ability to communicate to friends, candidates and clients. This sales person, with her obvious handicap was not letting it stop her from earning a living.
In a world where attitudes of entitlement run rampant, here’s to all the sales people who do the best with what they have!
Hopefully, your sales staff appreciates their abilities and uses them as confidently as our cold caller did.
To review past Sales Hiring Updates, go to www.saleshiringblog.com.
Next month’s update will include the top 5 reasons why sales hiring can be trickier than other positions within the enterprise.
“The McCandlish Group is the only retained recruiting firm that specializes in sales management hiring and is compensated only when you hire our candidate…at substantially less than other leading retained firms.”