In three weeks the universe’s most evil person would knock
on his door. He needed to prepare. Bob had read books on the art of war. Great generals said to study your enemy. So, Bob drove down to the local Borders.
“Can I help you with a book selection?” asked Suzy, a future employee of 800-CEO-READ .
Bob paused and took in the landscape. There was no one wearing plaid pants, no one
wearing excessive gold jewelry and no one running off at the mouth. In a hushed and covert tone he said, “I am
looking for books written on sales.”
“You got it, follow me!”
Was it just him, or did Suzy give him one of those better not get too close to this guy, he’s
got coodies looks?
The very thought of having Mikey the Carpet Guy out to his
house for an estimate had him a nervous wreck. Visions of used car salesmen and appliance slick willies accounted for the recent hair
loss and sleepless nights. Maybe, just
maybe, if he could learn how they manipulated their prospects he could get
through this with his dignity in tact.
“Here we go sir. You’ll surely find something on one of the forty-five shelves in this
section. Or if you’d like I could make a
recommendation.”
Recommendation? Bob
became suspicious. Was Suzy’s last name
Sandler or Ziglar? Was she an undercover
operative?
“No thank you. I’ll
just browse.”
Bob’s stomach was in knots. The problem was worse than he had suspected. The vast selection of books caused him to think there was a whole lot more training on sordid and slimy tactics. For the most part, he thought salesmen were
born (or forced into this world) naturally and he didn’t expect to find such a
vast array of information.
Bob was attracted to different. It didn’t take long for the small red book
with red cloth to find him. The Little Red Book of Selling, how
clever.
He opened the book and read, “People don’t like to be sold…but they love to buy! Duh! Of course they don’t. Now if he
could just find the chapter on deception.
What’s this? Here was
the author advising the reader, the salesman, to Kick His Own Ass! Bob thought, this is good and he continued to
read.
Next was advice on Getting Prepared. Hmmmm, he thought SOP was to shoot from the
hip.
The chapter on Personal Branding made sense. It’s not who you know, it’s who knows
you. And, become known as a resource.
There was additional material on networking, asking
questions, creativity, testimonials and other stuff. But the chapter that defied logic, defied
even being in the book, was on Giving Value. Bob had never met a salesman in his life that gave value! They just wanted your money. He grabbed the book and checked out, not
bothering to see if anyone noticed him.
Bob devoured the book. He wasn’t even a salesman and he thought it would benefit him at work.
Afterwards he wondered, if sales people
followed this advice maybe more folks would view them as business people who
were out to help and not as sleazy pond scum.
Later in the week, Bob went back to Borders and picked up a
copy for Mikey the Carpet Guy. His war would have to wait for someone else.
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