Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the...

I will give you three guesses what all of this blog is about tonight.. Okay?  Oh, and your first two don't count.

So, one of the big hot shot sales people has left, and you get some new accounts.  You and Mr./Mrs/Ms Hotshot have so little in common that it is like you do not even work for the same company.  Their skills were like "butta", and your skills are like sandpaper (and I am not talking ultra fine either, more like 3 grit sandpaper), or at least it seems that way to your new customers.  How do you fix that?  Can you fix that?  Did you fix your pet?  Well the pet thing has really nothing to do with it, but it is always a good idea.  It is possible to build relations with your new customers, and it is not as hard as you, and they, are making it out to be.

Think about your best customers.  What do you do that they like?  What have you learned from spending time with them?  And the most important thing is... What do they like?

If you remember, when you were given your book of business it was probably a hot mess.  There were customers who hated the company, customers that loved their old salesperson, customers the company gave the "shaft" to, customers who figured that your company was out of business because they had not heard from some one in a little under a decade, and I could go on.  Like Indiana Jones, you must cut your way through the jungle.  There is undergrowth, henchmen, and many other pitfalls along the way, but with your cunning and wit, you will get through it.

Personal Story Time (cue flashback music)
When I was first hired to sell automotive tools, I knew nothing about them.  Well almost nothing, I knew what a wrench, sockets, and a screwdriver were for (screwdrivers are for when you have to go to a noon game after drinking all night).  I struggled with my fast talking car guy style.  I was at an absolute loss.  I could keep one of these guys attention if I was on stage with three strippers (yes I was that bad).  Then I remembered sales was kind of like dating, accept you get paid for it (no I am not going there).  I started to think of how I could get through to these guys.  Bingo! 

Real life again
If there was one thing I learned standing behind a bar for a few years it was this... What do people like to talk about most in the world?  THEMSELVES!!!  So rather than presenting myself, as the cool, new, (clueless) guy, I introduced myself.  Then started asking questions about their business, their interests, their families, themselves.  There it was, I was all of the sudden getting somewhere, and my numbers started to climb.  My research (see a theme here with my posts) led me to gain a better understanding of what they thought.  All of the sudden I became a NASCAR fan.  I hated whatever driver they hated; I was a fan of the same driver they were (research again, that way you do not sound like a schmuck).  This mirroring allowed me to become their favorite salesperson.  I did not have to sell myself out to do this.  I still retained my own personality, skills, and beliefs, but I was all of the sudden just like them.  I was able to turn an almost dead book of business into a success story, just by doing what should come natural to all of us.  We may hate Thai Food, but if the person we like "likes" it.  Then sure as <censored>, we like it too.  Think that scene in Along Came Polly, he couldn't eat spicy food, but he did to get the girl.

So what I am saying in a long, drawn out way is to mirror your customer.  Find out what they like, don't like, find that common ground, be a regular person like they are, and the rest is gravy.  How else could a kid from the Midwest, who talks like someone from South Philly sell $200,000 in screwdrivers to a guy who has never left Alabama?