T5. Selling the Job
Commission Sales Reps Must Be Sold
Reps will line up for salary (free money) jobs. Commission jobs are completely different. There are countless available. Most make exaggerated promises and grandiose claims. To sell your job you must stand out and get noticed. The best way is to be realistic and credible. Sales reps can spot lies a mile away.
Next the job must connect to a clearly defined bright future. Pay plans must be attractive. Providing leads is a huge advantage if possible. Even if the above can be provided the job must be sold. Not hyped but clearly explained in a restrained but enthusiastic way.
Talk to the reps and find out what motivates them. See if you can match what you have to what they want. Also ask what other jobs the applied for and why.
Never rush into a job offer. Make the reps earn the job. People tend to want what is hard to get.
NOT NICE: David Smith please.
Prospect: I’ll put you through.
Sales = Call Volume X Close Ratio.
Who will make more calls a day – the “nice” or “not nice” rep?
Here is a sample dialogue at the close:
NICE: Well, I hope I explained everything. Do you have any questions? Would you like to think about it for a while, no rush you know . . .
NOT NICE: I take Visa, what’s the number?
Who do you think will ask for the order like she deserves it and keep asking until she gets it?
Social norms that work in casual interactions do not work in sales. A more extreme example is when you try to fight fair and be nice in combat and seconds later what pieces of you can be found are shoveled into a body bag.
If you find yourself compulsively being nice all the time, for no particular reason, then here is a cure. Get a puppy. A cute, furry, warm, happy, puppy that will lick your face, wag its little tail, and fall all over itself being nice to you. Roll around on the floor for an hour each morning with the little puppy. Get it out of your system.