Seth Godin, one of the world's leading marketing gurus, has an insightful piece on his blog that I wanted to forward you because I think it has some great applications for you as a sales professional.
It has to do with "first impressions". As sales people, you work hard to create good first impressions for your future customers (and even your current ones). But in the long term, Seth asks, isn't it better to worry about the last impression you leave? Here are his thoughts:
"Marketers (and high school kids) focus a lot on the first date. After all, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
I recently had some waterproofing done in the basement. The first date was great. The company was professional and had every single element down, from their AdWords to the web site to the way they interacted on the phone and in person.
I think that stuff is pretty important, but I'm way more interested in the last interaction than I am in the first (and if you care about word of mouth, you should be too).
After they finished the job, they left my basement a mess.
Forever, my only memory of the job is going to be...
