Okay, we all know that when the doorbell rings or the telephone, either before or after a certain time, we get that irritating feeling in our stomachs. Is a solicitor? Most likely. You answer the telephone, yep it is someone from the Police Widow’s fund. “Damn!” you think to yourself. You try to remain polite, but for every “no” there is a rebuttal. Never once do they ask you what you really want or how you feel about their organization. It’s always about them, right? So you take action, and put your name on the federal “Do Not Call Me Damn It List!” Even business owners have taken to placing two and three “No Solicitation” signs on their doors. For those of us who are in sales, if you do call, you better not sound like a salesman, or else they’ll hang up you (go ahead and laugh…it’s okay). What does all of this mean?
Does it mean that you don’t want to ever be sold again? Does it mean that you really, really, really hate salespeople? Should you punch the next telemarketer that you meet in the face? No, no, and hell no! You see, what all of this really means is that you and I and them are tired of being hassled. You are not tired of being sold on something; you are just tired of being hassled. There is a difference between a salesperson/solicitor and someone who hassles others to get paid. What you and I and them get on the phone and sometimes at our door are “hasslers” (don’t look this word up in the dictionary because they have gotten my submission yet).
Everyone, including you, (and them too) is a solicitor! That’s right! Deep down inside you are sales person…yep! To prove my point, please review the following examples thoroughly.
• You Sale yourself on your job in hopes of getting regular raises
• As a child you begged for everything that you wanted (yep begging is sales)
• You sale your wife on cooking your favorite meals all the time
• You sale your husband on buying stuff that you use irregularly (if not at all)
• You sale your spouse on why tonight would be a great night for sex even if sex on Tuesday nights usually sucks
• You tried to sale the fact that you did not know the speed limit the last time you went to traffic court…and you’ll do it again
Should I go on? I’ll chill because I know you get the point. There is nothing wrong with being solicited. It’s just that there is a way that one should go about doing it. Solicitation is actually a good thing. We have the ATT&T Universe combo package as a result of a very nice door to door salesman that came to our home. He was not rude or pesky. He came at the appropriate time, and asked the appropriate questions. He also demonstrated a great deal of patience as my wife was, in my opinion, very rude to him. Two people in the Hines family use Proactive skin solutions to get rid of acne (I’m not one of them) as a result of a very effective marketing/sales/solicitation blitz on TV and in the mall. You see, solicitation can be a “good thang”. The problem that we need to solve is turning “hasslers” into good salespeople. For all of you “hasslers” out there, just remember the first rule in sales is you have to solve someone’s problem. They’ll hang up on you or ask you to leave if you can’t. Second, you have to ask questions to get to the problem that needs to be solved. Third, it is never, ever, about you. When you start solving problems and stop hassling people, your problems will disappear.
Walter Hines,
Bison Business & Technology Solutions
Financial Editor
ReelUrbanNews.com
“I blog; therefore, I am!”
Twitter Account: @bisonbiz2012
Website: www.bisonbiz.com
Email: walter@bisonbiz.com
