Bad At Sales!

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I have sat in many trade show booths through the years. Inevitably, vendors of equipment and other service providers take advantage of the opportunity to come by the booth to try and sell something. Many are distributers of equipment used in our projects. Others are insurance providers or human resource consultants. Almost all are poor salesmen. Here are the most common traits of bad salesmen.

1. They jump right into their pitch without ever asking who I am or what I do. This is a terrible lead in because they assume I am an engineer and assume I give a rat’s @#! about what they’re selling.
2. They do not listen to me. Even after telling them, I am in marketing, I am not an engineer, I have nothing to do with specifying or purchasing their product or service, they continue with their pitch. They completely ignore the fact that I will have nothing to do with their success at selling something.
3. They feel pressure to keep talking and repeating themselves. They must think that I am as terrible a listener as they are so they must keep talking until they get my interest in something.

If you want to be good at selling, you do the exact opposite of these things.

1. You start by asking questions. What is your name and what do you do? This gives you enough information to decide if this is the right person who may be interested in what you are selling. If they are the right person, you ask more questions. Let them do the talking and you do most of the listening.
2. LISTEN! Shut your mouth and pay attention to what they are saying. They will tell you if they’re interested in what you are selling. If they are not, you thank them and ask if there is another person in their organization to whom you should contact.
3. No one is as interested in you and your company as you are. Why would they be? So, stop trying to convince people how great you and your company are. Talk about something else and have a conversation. Ask questions unrelated to business. Build a relationship.

Be good at selling your engineering services. Don’t have a sales pitch. Don’t assume you know who you’re talking to. Listen a lot more than you speak!