Content Strategy and Words for Business on the Web • • Feature Post Sales vs. Marketing

« 10 Standout Writing & Marketing Links | Blog Home | Protect Your Privacy! An Interview with PrivacyBuilder’s TJ McDonald »

What I Learned from My First Sales Mentor

By Brad Shorr | November 6, 2007

telemachus-and-mentor.JPGFirst impressions are powerful. My first mentor in sales made a great one on me. He was trained as an accountant, incredibly driven, and willing to do anything in the world to help you - even if it wasn’t pleasant. His name was Gary. Here are just a few of the things I learned from him.

1. Have a genuine interest in your customer’s business. You can’t solve problems for customers unless you understand what they need. The only way to find out is to ask a lot of questions and listen. If you’re not genuinely interested, it all goes in one ear and out the other.

2. PLAN! For Gary, sales was not the venue for improvisational theater. Every week, I had to write up my next week’s schedule of calls and everything I planned to do on each call. Friday afternoons Gary would sit me down and review every excruciating detail - not a whole lot of fun, but his suggestions improved my plan and as a consequence, my results.

3. REVIEW! In the same way, Gary and I would go over every excruciating detail of every call I made during the past week. The planning and review process taught me another valuable lesson …

4. Attention to detail. Being in the distribution business, we had tons of brochures (this was long before the Web!). Most sales reps in the industry tossed a brochure on the buyer’s desk and started talking about the weekend sports results. Gary made me read our brochures, and then highlight what I thought were the key points - not just on the copy I read, but on every copy I carried in my trunk. That way, I could draw the customer’s attention to the key points when I used the brochure on a call.

I’ve come to believe that what separates the good sales people from the great ones is follow-through. A lot of reps can make a sharp first impression, but not so many wear well over time. Customers love it when they don’t have to worry whether something is going to get done. When a sales relationship is built on a foundation of reliability, competitors won’t easily undermine it.

5. Passion, baby! Long before it became fashionable to talk about having passion for one’s work, Gary showed me what it looked like to be totally immersed in one’s work and totally in love with it. No challenge was too great. No problem was insurmountable. By sheer force of will, he was able to secure business that on paper seemed impossible.

Elementary, you say? Perhaps, but how many sales people score perfect 10’s in these areas? Most do not, and I’d be scoring 4’s or 5’s at best, had it not been for Gary drilling good habits and attitudes into my head.

This post was inspired by Robert Hruzek’s What I Learned From … project.

(Image - Telemachus and Mentor)

Related:

  • Best of Word Sell, Posts 200-400
  • Sales Mentors - Are You Helping or Hindering?
  • What I Learned from My Business Mentors
  • Tips for Successful Sales Contests, #3
  • What I Learned from Testifying in Court

    • 10 Responses to “What I Learned from My First Sales Mentor”

    1. Robert Hruzek Says:
      November 6th, 2007 at 7:08 am

      Excellent points, Brad! Interesting how every point can also be applied to life as well, don’t you think? :-)

      Thanks for joining in the fray for the writing project!

    2. Brad Shorr Says:
      November 6th, 2007 at 7:48 am

      Hi Robert, you are right! If it works for sales, it works for life. And vice versa …

    3. Joanna Young Says:
      November 8th, 2007 at 9:07 am

      It sounds like he was quite a task master Brad. I’m wondering which one you found the most challenging piece of advice?

      Joanna

    4. Brad Shorr Says:
      November 8th, 2007 at 9:46 am

      Joanna, for me, attention to detail was probably the hardest. Have you ever been given good advice that you found hard to follow?

    5. Joanna Young Says:
      November 8th, 2007 at 11:31 am

      Oh my goodness Brad - far too many times to mention!

      I can’t even follow my own advice sometimes :-)

      Joanna

    6. All Entries: What I Learned From Anything at All! | Middle Zone Musings Says:
      November 12th, 2007 at 5:01 am

      […] the Moonflower, by Anna at Anna’s Attic … My First Sales Mentor, by Brad Shorr at Word Sell, Inc. … Fighting With My Neighbor, by Genesis at her At Home Mom Blog […]

    7. J. Erik Potter Says:
      November 12th, 2007 at 10:13 am

      Brad, excellent contribution. Point #1 ties into my entry. We need to be starting up conversations with our clients, not sending out generic brochures. Start a dialogue, drill down to the heart of their needs, and watch the relationship blossom.

    8. Brad Shorr Says:
      November 12th, 2007 at 12:02 pm

      You are so right, Erik! It’s going to take awhile for all this to be broadly accepted, but we’re making progress.

    9. Jeanne Dininni Says:
      November 15th, 2007 at 4:41 am

      Excellent piece, Brad! That’s really what successful sales, business, and life have always been all about!

      Jeanne

    10. Brad Shorr Says:
      November 15th, 2007 at 7:31 am

      Thanks Jeanne, nice to hear from you!

    Comments