Integrity - The Core Differentiator of a Sales Guy

Over the next series of articles, I want to share with you my take on what differentiates a sales guy from the crowd. The differentiation is not only in terms of exceeding the yearly quota but in terms of how successful has been the transformation from a Sales Person to a Business Manager.

This transformation is something that I came across while reading the legendary sales book "Selling to VITO (Very Important Top Officer)". If you want to build a long lasting rewarding relationship with your client then you need to stop selling your services and instead become a problem solver. This fundamental change in mindset is a paradigm shift that a sales guy has to make to earn the coveted role of business adviser to VITO. There are some examples of problem solving that I can share with, however, at this point of time, I find it both a digression and little to early to ponder on this item.

In this article, I want to talk about the core differentiator of Integrity. In my words, I define Integrity as " The ability to exercise one's total freedom and capacity to ensure that you are true to the goal". In more tangible terms, this translates to rock solid commitment of a sales person to his profession. I can assure you that this intangible trait is the most obviously observed quality that a prospect first notices in the sales person. However its also something that a sales guy is not conscious of. This is because its a fundamental value system and is an involuntary reaction to a situation. I would like to relate you an interesting learning that I was party to.

As the Manager for Sales, I continuously work on the arcane channel of alliance driven sales to affect quantum growth. I have had my share of success and learnings in this route. During one such incident, I was supposed to meet a sales manager from a company that was helping in providing some compliance software products. The sales manager was a very diligent and organised individual. He sent me and my VP regular updates and follow-up notes. His approach was professional and the sales discipline appreciable.

We called him over for a meeting after several reschedules because of some unavoidable circumstances. Also it was not on the top of our priority list, but I and my VP were curious to meet this gentleman(lets call him "Tom"). Tom had already made an impact on us with his methodical approach!

The meeting was on an afternoon and Tom came in well in time. We exchanged cards and the discussion was progressing pretty well. Tom had a pleasant demeanor and was talking about the company and the products that they offer. However, my inquisitive and curious eye was looking for some signals to understand his true passion for the role.

I noticed some slight aberrations. Tom's tie button was open. His shirt also was not the perfectly starched shirt I expected from a sales hungry manager in a start-up. Then something interesting happened. The discussion moved on from the company offerings to Tom's sales experience. My VP obviously wanted to size him up and see if he was a fit for our organization. Tom's credentials sounded good, and he presented his experience very well. He also mentioned that he had interviewed for us a long time back. He infact knew a common friend of my VP. This eased conversations to a more informal note. There was some small talk about the common friend and things were going great in the meeting.

This was when, my VP in inadvertently (I hope), popped the question to check if Tom was still interested in working with us. I was expecting that Tom would divert this question. However, something unbelievable happened. Tom immediately acknowledged. He was in fact very enthusiastic about it. He also went on to speak about where else he was interviewing, how some of the interviews went and how close he was to latching up another job. I was hoping that he would stop but Tom went on. He went on say, how the current company was not structured well, and how their decision making was flawed.

I must tell you, sitting on the other side of the table, I was so uncomfortable. The meeting ended with some follow up items. As soon as Tom left, my VP said, " What a way to blow up all your credibility". Not only was Tom written off, I can assure you we might also not do any business with his company!

It was a great learning. Your integrity is what prospects notice first. It is your integrity that gives you the passion to sell against all odds, and leaves you as the last man standing. Always keep in mind that its the profession of sales first and everything at work comes next. This is the only way you can give your best to your client and build a great relationship on the foundation of mutual respect.

Till next time happy selling....

My introduction to Sales..

When I was a student in school in India, I was an avid reader of comics. There was a publication called "Indrajal Comics"( http://www.indrajal-comics.blogspot.com) . They had great titles for characters like "Phantom-The Ghost Who Walks", "Mandrake the magician", Garth, Flash Gordon etc. The new copies would be quite expensive. However, during our weekend trips to the town, I would scavenge some of the old book shops accompanied by my dad or mom, and pick up some copies. One day during a trip to the local deli called "Variety Stores", I managed to locate a huge bunch of Indrajal comics. Each was priced at about probably 200% lower price. My dad bought the whole bunch for me. I was ecstatic. During the course of the next few months, I had finished reading through all of these. I realized that there were more publications on the shop that I could now pickup. I started selling the older copies to students and friends in school. This helped me make some money for new ones. I was also pretty good at art. I started making some greeting cards and sell it to my friends. This was my first rendezvous with the wonderful experience of selling.

To me, Selling is a very intimate process of building trust and investing in a relationship that will identify the risks and opportunities thrown open by change and building systems that will deliver the promise of those opportunities.

The end result of a deal, which from my standpoint is not the greatest achievement. Although a rational assessment digitally would place a win as the ultimate qualifier . I am a student of sales and want to use this forum to essentially share my experiences that this wonderful profession provides me with. During the course of my job, which is predominantly focused on information technology services I meet a wide spectrum of clients, vendors and team members. From each of these stake holders, I gain insights into the sales process, which I hope to manifest into intelligence and over a period of time distill it into wisdom.

During school there were a lot more such instances when I indulged in opportunities where I could exercise my interest in selling. However, the turning point in sales was when I was in Engineering. During my engineering school days, I had a lot of friends who were from a business community. I used to hang around with them and an evening cup of tea at their place, would expose me to raw business acumen. These sessions would be end of the day discussions in a family, where the men would discuss complex areas like pricing, relationship management, risk management in the simplest possible way. One of my mentors, who had a profound impact on me was an entrepreneur, who built is success in starting as a accountant and ending up as the owner of a publicly traded paper industry. During my next series of write-ups, I will discuss more about the impact his methodology of thinking had on me. However, one key learning from his association was in decision making. He told me that "when you are at a point of making decisions where you are making a choice in the short term that impacts the long term picture, steer clear of this decision". Over a period of time, when I have put my decisions through this filter, I have realized the profound impact of this advice.

With support from my mentor, me and a very close friend of mine started a venture in Engg. School. Considering the cultural background that I belong to, it was not appropriate for students to focus on any other activity other than studies. Needless to mention that my friends shared the constructive rebel that was driving us. At that point of time, the idea that was driving up against the wall was a silver bullet to handle the menace of plastic pollution. We decided to set up a unit that would manufacture paper bags much similar to the ones that you see in retail stores today.

The market we were operating in was central India, and I tell you this was a venture in which I donned the hat of the Sales guy and my friend was the technical master behind the design and manufacture of the product. It was an amazing journey. I have innumerable memories of this, but my greatest lesson in this process was mainly, understanding the value of perseverance, hard work and the fine line between skilled sale and unethical sales practices.

I would like to share with you this story on sales ethics. During the manufacturing of the paper bags, we would order a huge roll of paper from the mill owned by our mentor. Mind you the only advantage we were given was access to the mill, other than that he treated us as pure business customers to ensure that we learned our lessons right. Once we received the roll, the requirement was to get this roll sheeted into the desired size. Once it happened that we were required to sheet this paper and the regular place where we got this done was closed. There was another mill close by which could do this job for us. However, the day being a Thursday, the place was closed for regular business. I knew the guy who owned the place. Let me re-phrase, I knew the name of the guy who owned the place. I also knew that he had a younger brother, who was about our age and was in the same city we were living in. We also happened to know some common friends. I went into the factory along with my friend and introduced myself to the Super who was in-charge. I introduced myself as the friend of the owner and told him that we needed to get the paper sheeted. I also told him that this being an off-day, not to bother with disturbing the owner. The kind of confidence and control, I and my friend exuded, was that of total conviction. The Super himself loaded the paper, got the sheeting done, called for a pickup truck and escorted out. This was the biggest con I had ever pulled off. I was ecstatic. My friend was also amazed at our luck. You could call this the start-up die hard spirit or categorize it was juvenile short sightedness. However over a period of time, guilt caught-up with us. We were also worried for the innocent Super who believed us. After about a couple of months, me and my friend visited the place again, and this time we met the guy who owned the place. It was a great meeting. Not only did we become good friends, but he thanked us for exposing a vulnerability in his enterprise.

However, the lesson for me was clear. In sales, "A quick sale is a great temptation. However, the right sale is what differentiates the Men from the boys....."
Till next time, happy selling....