Vend/OCS Selling: A Difference?
© 2000 Stuart Daw
from Vending & OCS Magazine
• March/April 2000
Now that vending operators are getting more
involved in coffee service and vice versa, the question often arises— which
is the easier field in which to sell, or is there really much difference?
My own experience is much heavier on the coffee
service side, but it seems to me there is much in common between the two. Of
course vending accounts can be a much larger sell, and a higher degree of
technical knowledge may be required, and because the stakes are higher in
terms of equipment and sales levels, a different type of buying executive may
be making the decisions.
Nonetheless there is a commonality of
characteristics among all good salesmen, quite apart from the question of what
it is that’s being sold. Because salesmen may be the least formally trained
of any profession, partly because it is so easy to enter the field, there are
a lot of people doing it that shouldn’t be, and there is a wide disparity in
their quality ..."a dog from every village," as my father used to
say.
First, if a sales type has to be proactive
by the nature of his job, what about the person doing the buying, the reactive
one? Purchasing agents can be such nice people, maybe because so many salesmen
who call on them seem so nice too. But with the purchaser what you see is what
you get. It’s probably his natural self. With the salesman, you never know,
for to paraphrase Shakespeare, "false face must hide what false heart
doth know." He may be faking it, possibly under great stress and very
unhappy if he’s selling when he should be doing something else, in
administration or in any number of positions for which he is better suited
psychologically.
Some purchasing agents can be very hard to
read, and even seem impossible to handle and to satisfy. They have that
luxury. They don’t have to be bubbly and upbeat. I knew one in my past who I
think was actually allergic to salesmen. He almost frothed at the mouth at the
sight of one entering the room. And while I would like to have seen him go in
for some therapy, I just had to live with the fact of who and what he was.
There is one unalterable fact of human nature.
A person will always try to act in his own self interest. As such, a
purchasing agent may like you personally, but his real and quite proper motive
is to do what’s best for his company, for this is in his own long range self
interests as well. The key to good salesmanship is to realize that by devoting
yourself to helping the buyer pursue his own interests, you are also pursuing
yours, and parenthetically, those of your company.
So if you can’t do much about the type of
buyer described above, you can do something about yourself, maybe
beginning by having a psychological profile done, a simple exercise that can
be startling in its revelations about who you really are and what you should
be doing for a living. But let’s assume for now that you have the stuff of
good salesmanship. What else do you need to do for self improvement and to
become more professional?
First, are any of us exempt from having one or
more characteristics that serve to annoy other people? We tend to notice these
things in others, but can be unaware of them in ourselves. This question is
especially important for salesmen. After all, people buy from people they
like, and it’s hard to like a sales person with annoying habits.
As a young coffee salesman 50 years ago, I was
perpetually in a hurry to make as many prospect calls as possible, and had the
habit of sweeping into a restaurant while spinning my sunglasses like a
propeller in my right hand. I stopped doing the sunglass thing when one day a
call came into the office from a restaurateur, a recent immigrant with little
command of the English language. "Want to speak to salesman," he
told the receptionist. When asked which one, he replied "Man who talk
fast and spin sunglasses."
Seeking perfection
Is perfection possible? Maybe not, but can we
at least be a little less imperfect? One very important way is by attempting
to control our emotions. We humans are unique in all of nature in that we are
valuers. Some of the values we seek are planned. But without realizing it we
are also making automatic value judgments, and about everything we see around
us. Most of these happen in a lightning-like fashion without requiring any
preliminary thought. The results of these value judgments are called emotions,
the immediate reactions we have to things, events and people around us. And no
two people have exactly the same emotional response to the same inputs.
While many emotions can be good, such as
happiness, joy, kindness, generosity, warmth, etc., there can also be some
very bad ones: anger, bitterness, hatred, jealousy, to cite but a few
examples. Surely one key to good salesmanship is be the ability not to evoke
bad emotions from buyers by doing and saying things that might annoy them.
Just as important, we can learn to control our own emotions, not an easy thing
to do. To never evince negative emotions in front of a buyer takes a lot of
practice.
The one best way I know to accomplish this is
through introspection. Every time you feel an uncomfortable emotion, stop for
a moment and ask yourself, "Why did I feel that way when he said that to
me? Was my reaction rational? Was it really his fault, or could it have been
mine? And even if he was wrong and abusive in what he said, what did I have to
gain by reacting the way I did?"
Most people wear their emotions on their
sleeves. They have trouble hiding them. Good sales people are able to do it.
They just never show anger, petulance, hurt feelings, or give off any other
bad vibes.
One of the best sales people I ever had in that
regard was a woman named Helen, our top honor snack tray placement person when
we were in that industry. She actually lasted on that job for over 15 years,
in a business that was straight from Hades, and in which the buyers were often
violently opposed to having a snack tray placed maybe for the 15th time on
their premises. In training new sales people we would role play, with me being
the big bad buyer and she the cold call canvasser.
Trainees would be startled when, as Helen
entered the room carrying a tray, I would shout in mock anger something she
often heard in the field, "Get that thing the hell outa here." To
which Helen would merely smile sweetly and say, "Why?" All of a
sudden I’d have to think of a reason why, and of course there are a thousand
reasons why someone might not want a snack tray, but she would have a cheery
answer for each objection, until at last I’d have to give up and allow her
to leave it one more time.
On mentoring
Most of us need outside help in identifying the
little quirks and foibles of which we are unaware. In which case we need a
mentor, someone or maybe two people, good friends who will be honest with us
in offering constructive criticism. It helps if they will allow us to
reciprocate in a kind of mutual evaluation society. Maybe such
"mentors" are built in, superiors in the business whose wisdom
should be welcome.
But you have to pledge not to feel resentment
to criticism. Years ago I was involved in a friendly sandlot ball game in
which one member of the opposing team spent a good deal of time trying to
improve the play of a team-mate, whose name was Lyle. Lyle made no overt
objection to this "help" while on the field. But in the locker room
after the game, to the shock of all the jocks within earshot, Lyle, now
dressed in his street clothes, walked over to his self appointed
"mentor," took him by the shoulders, and with their noses almost
touching, screamed, "I can’t stand criticism!" He then turned on
his heel and stalked out of the room.
At least he was bluntly honest about it. Most
of us share his distaste of being criticized, and the consequence of trying to
"help" someone can often mean deeply hurt feelings. Any casual
criticism from a "friend" is likely to evoke the reaction, "Who
the heck does he think he is? Where does he come off telling me what’s wrong
with the way I do things?" And, figuratively sucking his thumb, "He’s
not my friend any more."
The Toastmasters example
An organization I highly recommend in this
regard is Toastmasters International. A Toastmaster has to follow a regimen of
making successive speeches, each one accenting some particular aspect of what
is needed to be successful at public speaking. The rules call for every talk
to be evaluated by another Toastmaster. Speaking in front of and being
evaluated by one’s peers can be an unnerving experience. The person doing it
is most often restrained in giving criticism, and wants to say something
complimentary even when evaluating a terrible speech. The reason of course is
that no one wants to hurt anyone’s feelings, especially in front of an
audience.
As an antidote to this situation, Toastmasters have a
mentoring program whereby each member is assigned someone who, in private, can
coach and assist another member. Ideally these mentorings are very helpful in
pointing out where weaknesses can be strengthened. While being sensitive in
citing areas needing improvement, many positive suggestions can also be made.
I strongly recommend Toastmasters for self improvement. The results could be
an improved you.
So whether selling coffee service or vending, once you have
assimilated the technical know-how you need, professionalize yourself by
practicing the right techniques.
© 2000 Stuart Daw
