With the exception of my infamous toddler years, I've been in sales all of my life. When I was a child my school would have fundraisers that involved sending the students into the wild to sell magazine subscriptions. Luckily for me I lived in a fairly safe residential area and my older sister would walk with me as I knocked on doors. As I was harmless and probably adorable, I sold more new subscriptions than 95% of the other kids in my class.
I changed tactics when I was in college. Looking for some extra cash, what we called "beer and gas money", I stumbled upon a company that was looking for someone to, once again, sell magazine subscriptions. It's funny how that was such a big deal at the time. Thinking back, I got a few dollars for each subscription. We also had credit card applications that struggling college kids felt they needed.
This company sent me a kit filled with display materials and applications. Each application had a numerical code printed on it which indicated that it was from me so I would receive my spiff. My roommate at the time, Ed, was a great guy who was also had some inherent sales abilities. I recruited him to help me in exchange for beer and we stood outside of the campus bookstore during the first few days of the semester. As students walked out with bags full of overpriced books, we would greet them and ask if it was okay to throw a couple of applications in their bags. There was a constant stream of people walking out of the store, so it wasn't like we had to look for them.
Most of the students were pretty good about it, but every once in a while someone would refuse to let me put toss an application in their bag. When that happened, the others who were immediately behind them and saw this would get bold and also refuse us. After this happened a few times I looked over at Ed and he said, "When someone says no, just give it a minute and let a few pass. Then start again." Ed's plan worked. Someone would say no thanks and we would let the next dozen or so people behind them pass through. Then we would resume asking again. It worked great!
One of the lessons I learned from this experience was that there are both positive and negative influencers out there. Each day we look for these influencers to advocate for us. (Malcolm Gladwell called them "mavens" before there was a name for it.) These are the people who will speak on your behalf, even when you aren't present and say great things about you and your product.
On the opposite side of this are those leaders and influencers who can tear you down, especially when you aren't present. The good thing is that you probably already know who they are. You can either avoid them or try to rectify the problem. Or it could just be that they are an advocate for your competition.
The difficult part is finding your maven. Having someone advocate on your behalf is like having a second salesperson work on your behalf at no charge. My suggestion would be to find a current client who is very happy with your work and let them know you don't take them for granted. Treat them to lunch or drop off some doughnuts at their work. This sounds horribly hokey, but it is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Before you know it you'll have an army of satisfied clients leaving you excellent reviews and talking you up to their friends and family.
Make sure you spot the lead bird early on and try to steer them in your direction. In the meantime, stay healthy!
Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. He's also the author of "You're Going To Be Great At This!", a humorous look at sales. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.
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