OK, maybe you should skip this building the next time you're making sales calls...
But, sales professionals who judge the value of a prospect by the part of the city they do business in, the look of the building they do business in, or the type of customers they serve, are making a big mistake.
Never, ever, EVER do that.
Two quick stories to share from my sales career:
- When I first got into sales, I was given the area that nobody wanted (an hour and a half away from our office). It turned out to be great because nobody had worked the area in years, leaving everything for the rookie (me) to close. I learned early on not to judge an area by it's location.
- In that area nobody wanted was a building nobody had visited. A plain brick building near a set of railroad tracks...dirt parking lot...bad part of town. I took a shot and decided to visit them. Within two years, they accounted for more than $120,000 in business. They were the biggest customer in our district. Great reference. Wonderful, wonderful people. I learned early on not to judge an account by how their building looked.
Just wanted to remind all you sales pros out there to never overlook the potential in an account.
It's interesting what you say Dan, in that it made me remember one smart guy named Peter Lynch.
One of the things that would attract him to invest in a business, assuming all other things looked good, was that they weren't extravagent in the type of buildings they owned.
He used that as one of the deciding factors in investing in a company. He liked the thought that they cared about being tight with investor's money and were not interested in impressing people with monuments that housed offices.
Posted by: Gary Bourgeault | May 19, 2006 6:47 PM | Permalink to Comment