Try Something New

A friend of mine used to tell me stories of how he would prospect for jewelers to consider carrying his company's collection. In one instance early in his career his sales manager was traveling with him. The week was to include set appointments with customers, pre-arranged visits to a few prospects, and cold call drop-ins to other prospects.

As they were driving around the territory, the manager would notice jewelry stores here and there and ask the rep about them as they drove by. My friend the rep would respond as best he could with answers ranging from "Oh they don't sell this kind of stuff" to "I sell their competitor" and "I already know they don't need anything."

After a few days of this the sales manager asked him if he would be willing to make a presentation at the upcoming sales meeting. Surprised by this offer, my friend asked "On what? What would you want me to talk about?"

The sales manager replied, "I like the way you do your job. You have an uncanny knack of being able to drive by a store and know, just by looking at it, whether they need anything you have to sell. Really, it's brilliant. Can you imagine how much time the rest of the reps will save by learning your secrets?"

With that they stopped at the very next store they saw, went in and introduced themselves.

Now this was probably 20 years ago and things have maybe changed a bit, but the lesson is still worthwhile when it comes to learning about potential customers whether as a retailer, rep or vendor. People buy for all kinds of reasons:

1) Some may actually want what you are selling.
2) Some may not realize they need what you are selling.
3) Some may not want or need it today, but if they know about it may buy in the future.
4) Some may buy just because they can.
5) Some may buy because they like you.
6) And still others may buy because they feel sorry for you.

Whatever the reason, if you don't take the time and effort to reach a potential customer, chances are they won't buy from you. Rarely is it a random set of circumstances. Somebody has to do something 'on-purpose' to set things in motion.

What are going to be your 'on-purpose' somethings this week? Will one of them be a different kind of conversation starter? Maybe a different set of questions? How will you tap into the real reasons someone has walked into your store? Or how will you and your staff inspire a client to come in and visit your store? Or as a vendor, how will you engage jewelers in conversations which are more about their business and less about yours?

One last note, this same rep friend of mine and his manager were thrown out of a store that week, too. The rep, always a bit too sure of himself, strode into a store and noticed they didn't carry any product like he was selling. After a brief exchange and the jeweler telling him he never sells anything like that so he doesn't carry it, the rep asked, "Do you do any haircuts here?"

"What?" the jeweler asked. "What are you talking about? This is a jewelry store not a barber shop."

"Well," the rep said, "that may be, but I bet if you put a few barber chairs in here you'd sell a few haircuts."

The jeweler hesitated for a moment before raising his finger toward the door and yelling, "Get out!"

The point? Don't be a fool while trying new ways to engage a customer and worse, don't make them out to be a fool.