Listening Makes a Tough Sale Easier

I was selling advertising for a radio station. I was not given a list of current accounts and was asked to prospect for new business on the phone, and knocking on doors. Every day on the way to the office I passed by a warehouse on the side of the freeway. The wall of the business always had a sign hanging, ‘Open to the Public.’ One day I decided to go by and check it out.

It turned out that this business was a tool distributor, and while the majority of its business was through contractors, it made itself available to the public as well. When I walked in I asked for the owner. They said to go into the warehouse and turn left, that in the back of the warehouse was the owner’s office. I remember it like it was yesterday!

The owner’s office was like a fishbowl, with glass on three sides, looking out to the warehouse in front of his desk. I introduced myself by identifying the radio station for which I worked, and that began about a ten to fifteen minute period of time, where I was blasted by the owner over the mishaps of the previous salespeople who called on him from the radio station. It probably was only a few minutes and just seemed like ten to fifteen!

I learned something that day. To shut up, listen and take notes. It turned out that despite this business being there for thirty years, and advertising regularly in both major newspapers in the market, the previous rep from the radio station had insulted the owner of this business by asking him to fill out a credit application. He went on and on about how the radio station didn’t work and that I should re-consider working there. After he was done exhausting his emotions, I learned through questioning that he never tried advertising on the station and no one had called on him again after his experience for at least three years.

I told him I would look into it at the office, and wanted to continue calling on him because the audience we had was a perfect fit for his customer profile, for contractors and homeowners alike. I observed two things. Hanging on those fish bowl windows in his office were full page ads from his newspaper advertising, so I knew he had money to spend. And second, I observed that the owner smoked cigars, which our radio station owner also enjoyed. So when I went back to see him, I took the radio station owner, who brought with a gift, a couple of his finest cigars, sort of a peace offering. It turned out the two owners had much more than cigars in common; they both had vacation homes in the mountains and had children attending the same school.

That ten to fifteen (probably three minutes) period of listening turned into a regular advertiser for our station from that point until the day I left over two years later. The moral to the story is learn to use your ears more than your mouth when visiting clients, and you will see a dramatic increase in sales.

What are your challenges when it comes to listening to customers? I look forward to hearing your comments. Until next time …