Selling is an art!

Salesmen are born and then are groomed to become professionals. I started my career as a Medical rep with a small pharmaceutical company. I was selected and sent to a small town with absolutely no briefing on product or my job responsibilities. So from day one it was self learning. B-complex and iron tonics and cough syrup. This was in Tirunelveli, a small town in Southern Tamil Nadu. I met some wonderful characters there and they made sure that I am properly 'educated' on pharmaceutical selling! ( I am not going to bore you guys with my story now) We used to joke around those days that those who can't get in to anything big, would get pushed to sales jobs! Friends, it may be true but I have seen many a guys scaling new heights from a very humble 'sales jobs'! The first quality for a salesman is to be 'pushy'. He is the one who would not take 'no' for an answer! He would start his day by asking his customer 'how's the day?' and would complete the question with 'isn't the day beautiful'. He would not give a chance to the customer to say anything -ve! A true salesman believes in building relationship with the customer and even with his consumers. He would ensure the relationship he builds is maintained irrespective of his relocations. 'Net working' is very important for him. He would be 'passionate' about his products. He would believe that he has to walk the talk!! Can you imagine a Coke guy drinking Pepsi or vice versa? He would never talk ill of competition brands but would always convey that his brands are a notch above! He would learn all the intricacies of his product and keeps throwing his knowledge during his sales pitch. This is to ensure that customer's interest is kept alive. He would be 'action oriented'. He has to be in the thick of action! Man on roller skates! He wants to see his volume, facings, depletions going up in every account he handles!! He would deliver his promises. Against all odds!! For him 'deliverance' is key. 'Never say die' is his mantra!! He would never give up!!! Read this story on 'never say die'. This happened some 18yrs back. It was Diwali time and the market was Tamil Nadu in India. The situation was that TASMAC, distributors of adult beverages in TN, subsidiary of TN Government, was to release an order for BP Gold, a product we just launched, but the MD of TASMAC was not in HQ and order cannot be released without his signature. Those days there was no mobile or internet facilities (only telex machines). We found out from MD's office his travel itinerary. We figured out that the MD was to take a particular train from Trichy that night. Series of discussions on how to get the job done without upsetting the apple cart. Our sales manager, opted to take the same train originating from Chennai and travel in the 1st A/C coach which the MD would board at Trichy and make it to look as 'coincidence' and request the MD whether he could give him an appointment next day morning at Tirunelveli!. All went off well till the MD saw him while boarding the train at Trichy. The MD, a smart IAS officer, immediately realised it was not a 'coincidence' and it was a plot. He called him to his coupe and probed him. Our sales manager, didnt want to bull shit him and told him that he was desperate for this order as he has given commitment to his bosses and the stocks have to hit the depots ahead of Diwali for him to get it to the retailers. He also confided in him that there was no way he could wait for one more week for the MD to come back to HQ. MD of TASMAC was overawed by this guys commitment and told him to see him next day first thing in the morning at Tirunelveli in TASMAC office. Our guy could not sleep whole night and at sharp 9 'o'clock he was there to meet up with the MD. The moment MD saw our friend, he called the GM of TASMAC in Chennai, on phone, and requested  him to release the order immediately. My guy was speechless! The MD, summoned all his colleagues in the Tirunelveli depot, and narrated the whole story and paid all the accolades to my sales manager and told everyone that how our company set standards in terms of commitments to numbers!!! This is a true story and you can call KS Raghavan on +919840846567 and he would be too glad to share with you his experience and how he felt when MD released the order on phone!!! Watch out this space for more!