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Tonight I went out to a local public house for some soft drinks only. I just needed a change of scenery in an attempt to tire myself in preparation for a 5am start in the morning. A start I have not had to make for a good number of years, I usually start 3 hours later! And if I’d have gone down the route of an alcoholic drink, I may have started my day later than I would normally. So here I am, back home and feeling perhaps more awake than I would normally do! My intention was to be asleep by 10pm and clearly that hasn’t happened. Maybe 10.30…

I got talking to a man as we watched the football game on the big screen. Turns out he’s a salesman too. We talked about the differences and similarities in the industries in which we work/have worked. Amazing how the principals are the same and how our different work in different industries are so relevant to each other. Without him, my job would not exist and that pretty much accounts the other way round, at one point in his career.

So the topic we went on to talk about is how the sales culture has evolved. It’s amazing to see that we are now going back on ourselves, to where the sales all began – human to human. Sure, we have the contact centres and internets to thank for a lot of things, and they have put a big enough impact in place to remain where they are, as a functional part to any business, but realistically people want to deal with people these days. Which is rather lucky for me!!
We talked about the company which tends to always do things differently. An American company which has an item in most households these days. Whether that item be a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a mobile phone or simply an iPod – the company I speak of is Apple.
Have you ever been into an Apple store and been pounced on by an employee wanting to sell you something, or wanting to help? In comparison, have you ever been into another high street/shopping mall consumer electronics store? And has the employee that watched you from the second you walked through the door (if you’ve been into Apple, you’ll notice there are usually no doors) approached you because they want to sell you something or do they want to help? Likelihood is that they wanted to look like they wanted to help but actually only want to sell you something you probably don’t want.
Apple don’t apply that pressure. They talk to you, they help you, advise you and care. But when the conversation between you and a concierge is done and dusted, you’ll notice there’s no closing caption to get you to hand over cash or sign up to something. That’s up to you. But you’re in the store, you must have wanted something? You walked through the doors and chose that outlet and brand for some reason. It’s not as if the reason is mystery, Apple have established themselves considerably. Still, Apple will get your money one way or another. You’ll buy from them. You were in their store, you tested their products, you watched their tutorials, you’ve checked them out online and you have physically seen and communicated with someone without any pressure whatsoever.

As a salesman, I want to see this strange yet extremely successful technique of a company expand and become common practice in the world we live in. I work for a building society. Two, effectively now. And tomorrow I will be starting to spread this culture around each and every branch I visit. Because if every team is doing it, the entire company is doing it.
I want to play a part in something that other companies envy. I want people to envy the part I play. But most of all I want to share the success I can see in the perfect vision I get when I close my eyes.

Hopefully I can achieve my objective within the deadline I end up giving myself, because I haven’t done well with tonight’s deadline, I’ve missed bedtime.