When I started out in sales, my first territory was south-central Iowa. Coming from Chicago, I was having trouble adjusting to the laid back, rural culture, where the main topics of conversation included farm chemicals and the condition of the Iowa State wrestling program.
One day I stopped to make a cold call at a factory in a small town about fifty miles south of Cedar Rapids. Didn’t know the place from Adam. Not seriously expecting to see anyone, I asked the receptionist if I could talk to the buyer of packaging. But instead of the usual “leave your card,” the receptionist said,
“He’ll be right with you, sir.”
Taken off guard, I said, “Great! What is his name?”
She replied, “Merle Turnipseed.”
Merle Turnipseed. Maybe I had been a little punchy to begin with, but when I heard that name, I started laughing and absolutely could not stop. Turning my back to the receptionist so she couldn’t see what was going on, I looked down the corridor and saw the man himself walking toward me.
Have you ever experienced laughter and panic at the same time? As I’m laughing, I’m trying to figure out how I’m possibly going to get it together and talk to this man, and what kind of impression I was about to make. And for all I knew, Mr. Turnipseed was a friend of my boss, who seemed to know every packaging buyer in the state of Iowa.
Quick Thinking Saves the Day
What would you do in such a predicament? I’ll tell you what I did – I ran. Straight out the door, into my car, and out of town. I can only imagine what the receptionist and Mr. Turnipseed thought, but fortunately I had not left a business card.
A couple months later I went back, made sure I was composed before walking through the door, and had my meeting. It actually went well and was the start of a good relationship.
What I Learned
1. Expect the unexpected, always.
2. People have short memories and/or are quick to forgive.
3. Don’t be afraid to go back, to try again.
If you believe as I do that experience is the best teacher, you may enjoy these periodic “Real Life Sales Stories”. Each story is based on something from my own experience and is, I hope, instructive as well as entertaining.
Do you have an instructive sales story to share? Let us know!
Great lesson, Brad – and hilarious! Back when I was in Junior High, I used to think the name “Larry Finkelstein” was just a funny made-up name – until I met him! Luckily he had a sense of humor about it by then. Hmmm… I wonder what he’s up to now?
Bob, It’s amazing how those names stick with you. Remember the Johnny Cash tune “A Boy Named Sue”? Makes you wonder what having one of those names would be like.
My name is Phyllis Lynn Turnipseed Khare – yes I’m a Turnipseed. Just imagine growing up “Phyllis Turnipseed” – short, braces, bad skin, and talented as hell. It was interesting. When I got married and introduced myself as Phyllis Khare – I missed the come back – the joke – so I started saying….”But my maiden name was Turnipseed…”
Hi Phyllis, judging from your Web site, things turned out more than O.K. for you. I’ve come to learn that “Turnipseed” isn’t all that uncommon a name, but it’s not one you hear a whole lot in Chicago. Thanks for visiting Word Sell.
Well, really, how could you NOT laugh? Not because the name is necessarily silly (Hi, Phyllis!), but so unexpected. You expect somebody named Sam Smith or John Jones or whatever and you get a Merle Turnipseed . . . not what you’re expecting. And isn’t that, really, the main basis for humor in the first place?
you might be wondering how I happened upon your site – I have a Google Alert set for “Turnipseed” and today it sent me a link to your site here.
Deb, absolutely right! If you see a punchline coming, it’s seldom funny. Phyllis, I was indeed wondering about that. Talk about coincidences!
Well, at least you guys have a name that is at least phonetically correct! Howdy, Phyllis, Deb!
Mine, on the other hand goes like this: “Howdy, I’m Robert Hruzek; that’s H-R-U…”! Every. Time. :-/
Brad,
After such a mortifying experience, I applaud you for having the courage to go back and try again! It just goes to show that a single failure is rarely the end of the road, which is why failure-tolerance–with ourselves as well as others–is so important in both business and life! Experience is indeed the best teacher–even (or maybe especially) when that experience is an initial failure.
Great post!
Jeanne
P.S. Love those Google Alerts! I use them all the time. They help me find out so many interesting things about who’s using my name, where, and how!
So, Robert, how DO you pronounce Hruzek? Is the “h” silent? (I assume so, since you imply that it isn’t phonetically correct and you always have to spell it.)
Jeanne, another morale to the story – when faced with a fight or flight situation, run like the wind!
Well, Brad, that’s certainly one way to make a bad situation go away (though technically you’re the one who went away)!
Jeanne
But the catch here is that there is a limit to the details of working with some client that you can reveal through a story .If i am selling some consultancy service which helps increase the popularity of a product in the telecom industry and i am talking to ceo of blackberry,i can’t tell him much about how i am helping apple get a bigger share of the market .unfortuanately the stories most clients like to hear are about their own industry about their competitors but as a seller you have to make sure that your story is not reveling any confidentital details about their competitor but at the same time it is engaging the customer as well
Muhammad, Everything you say is very true. Sometimes if you are known to be an expert in a certain field, or have lots of clients in that field, your value is established without the need to tell stories at all. In such cases you may be better off making suggestions and allowing the client to infer they are based on your experience in their industry. I always look for stories in related industries – those can be quite effective, but as you say, the client must see some connection to his own business and his own problems.