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How skilled are you in handling candid conversations with strangers? This is something sales professionals need to master.
With a decade's worth of experience in insurance sales, Ken describes himself as witty, engaging and proficient in building relationships with prospects. But there was a time when Ken wasn't as savvy. Here's his story.
It was my first sales call without my manager. I was seeing a prospect up in the South Bronx, New York. It was winter, and tenements in the Bronx typically tend to be very warm during the winter, because the superintendents send up too much heat. When tenants in these buildings keep their windows closed, the humidity can make you break a sweat within minutes of entering their apartments.
The apartment I walked into was beyond humid. My prospect had all of her wet wash -- skirts, blouses and even underwear -- hanging from three lines strung between the apartment walls. I felt like a lizard in a terrarium.
In the midst of presenting my products on the woman's couch, I heard a snap.
One of the clotheslines broke, and a pair of panties fell from the air and landed right on my head. Meanwhile, this woman's little Chihuahua was yelping at the top of his lungs.
I simply removed the partially damp panties from my head. Without missing a beat, I continued to explain the life insurance policy I was selling.
She told me that she knew she needed insurance and wanted to just go ahead and take care of it. Cool. This was my first time soloing, and I was landing a sale.
As we began to fill out the forms, I looked up at her and asked, "So how old are you?"
"Fifty," she replied.
"Really?" I said. "You look a lot older." I have no idea how that came out of my mouth. Her eyebrows went up in surprise and then slammed down toward her nose in anger.
"Get out of my house. Get out." She pointed toward the door.
I bobbed under some clothing and left, still in shock at my own stupid comment. I did learn to be more professional, even at the risk of being less friendly. But I paid for that lesson with the lost sale.
Postmortem
Ken got two concepts mixed up: being familiar versus being comfortable. In a comfortable situation, you and the prospect have shared experiences like the flying underwear or discovered similar likes and dislikes during initial conversation. A familiar situation means the two of you are friendly and can banter like buddies.
Be professional. Your clients prefer pros. You can be flippant and have friends after selling hours.
[Dan Seidman of SalesAutopsy.com has been named one of the Top 12 Sales Coaches in America by Ultimate Selling Power. He collects sales horror stories for use in his speaking and training programs.]
