Today, I had a salesmen walk into my salon & coaching studio. He tried to sell me a product that is a multi-level marketing scheme. For those who are not familiar with Multi-level marketing (MLM), it is a marketing strategy. The sales force is compensated not only for the sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of the other salespeople that they recruit. It is a great business, if it works for you, and you got in early when it was first started.This salesman was an old friend of mine that I had not seen or talked to in quite a few years. My old friend's opening line to me, while I was with a client, was: "I HAVE COME TO SAVE YOU." I was totally taken by surprise and my client looked back at me and said: "Do you need saving?!!?"
I must say I was a little taken back since I didn't know that my old friend was even coming to the salon. We hadn't talked in years and we had totally lost contact with one another. With his opening line of : "I HAVE COME TO SAVE YOU" instead of : "nice to see you again," my reaction was: "Save me from what?"
So, he laid on his sales pitch to say: "Well, to save you from all of this" as he waved his arms around my salon. He apparently assumed that I must be miserable and losing a lot of money being a salon owner during the recession. So, a little rattled by his assumption I asked him: "To save me from my own dream? To save me from my coaching and teaching career? To save me from the most exciting, fun and invigorating time for myself? To save me from my clients and the interaction I have with them on a daily basis? To save me from the good group of people that I work with as a team who support each other and encourage one another to go further in our careers as well as in life?
To save me from my growing prosperity?
I do realise that this was his opening pitch for a sales call ... and I get that ... but how effective is your sales pitch when you don't do your research about the person that you would like to sell to. You cannot assume anything.
This blog post is not about the sales pitch and how to do a better one by doing your research (which I strongly recommend). This is about the awareness of who you are selling to, of knowing your market and your potential customer. I am a long time friend to this salesman. He relied on old information and a limited awareness of who I am today. He still saw me as a young stylist trying to figure out how to do the salon business and become prosperous
So, I told him: "So good to see you and I do not need saving." I also told him why I didn't need saving - I was very happy doing my own business and I did not have the time it would take to do multi-level marketing. I also told him that I was aware of his product and it was not a product I could use for my salon or for my clients. I am not sure if he really heard me. He had that glassed over look in his eyes. It was like there was no connection. He was not there to see me and to see how well I was doing. He was there to sell me a product and his multi-level marketing scheme.
I must say that my ego got bruised a bit and I kinda got insulted. I thought, wow he just came here to sell me something that will benefit him, with the expectation of a quick sale. He did not actually see me or realize just how well I have done ... and this was on a very busy day at the salon with a client waiting for me in my studio. He would not listen to anything I was saying. He just pushed and pushed to the point where I had to escort him out of my studio. I told him: "Nice to see you, but not interested."
He was obviously not aware of the true situation of my business. His intention was to sell his product and to sign me up for his marketing scheme. His illusion was not matching up with reality. He didn't see what was in front of him or listen to me telling him that I was just fine. He was still stuck in the past. All he could see was his vision of what he wanted to see. He was ignoring the reality of the situation.
So, the salesman had the intention to sell but he wasn't aware of the true state of my business finances. Without that awareness, it was not a good meeting and his intention was not met. Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events and objects in front of you. Intention is a specific purpose in performing an action or series of actions, the end or goal that you are looking for.
Your intention and your awareness can effect what you perceive and what you are actually doing with your life and your job. For a salesperson, to get the action, you have to truly perceive what the situation is before going for a goal or achieving a sale. My salesman friend had done neither and he lost the sale.
So, thank you old friend for that insightful sales pitch.
Marc Tolliver / Awareness Coach/Educator/Stylist & Salon Owner.
