Your
Letter of Credit
By
Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, March 5, 2018
“Every
man has a letter of credit written on his face.
We
are our own best advertisements,
and
if we appear to (be) disadvantage(d) in any particular (way)
we
are rated accordingly.”
From “Selling
Things” by Orison Swett Marden written in 1910
WARNING;
some who read this may find it offensive.
Keep in mind, if the shoe fits, wear it or change shoes!
If
you read the book, and I sincerely hope you do, you will discover as I did that
within the 29 short chapters lies the very description of an effective
salesperson. But I am not in sales you
say. Really? Do you honestly believe that? Have you never tried to convince someone of
something you believe in or tried to get someone like a employer, manager,
fellow-employee, spouse or child to buy into an idea or to buy a product or
service? Or have you applied for a
job? EVERYONE is in sales!
PERIOD!
Read
the above quote from the book again. EVERY man and woman (I updated it), EVERY man has a LETTER OF CREDIT, written on his or her FACE!
I
remember another quote that I also believe very much in, “What you think of me is none of
my business.” This is the title
of a very good book by Terry
Cole-Whittaker: https://tinyurl.com/y7hry42t
These
two quotes appear to be in contrast with each other and they are. Everyone should have and maintain their core
values and principal beliefs. When it
comes to these two characteristics there should be no compromise – none! But the first quote is not talking about your
core values or principals, Marden is talking about being a successful salesperson
and in that he agrees, NEVER
compromise your beliefs.
Being
successful in sales is NOT about
your core values or your beliefs, it is about convincing another person to buy
what you are selling whether it is a product or service, a vacation desire or
an idea for a better way of doing business.
You are pitching a sale of something you would like to see happen and
are hoping that another person agrees to buy it from you.
What
Marden writes about in his book and more specifically refers to in the above
quote is all about YOU and why you
should care about YOU. I learned a valuable lesson from my late
mother when she took me as a youngster back in the 1950s into a men’s clothing
store. A young, good looking guy maybe
in his twenties approached us and ask if he could help us (actually her, I was
way too young to be buying anything in that store). She immediately said no but continued to look
around the store without his help or assistance. A few minutes later another young man
approached us and asked if HE could
help and she said yes, she was looking for a gift for my Dad. When we left the store, I asked her why she
accepted the help of the second salesperson and not the first. She said the first young man had a beard and
she did not trust anyone wearing a beard.
Scoff
at that if you wish but consider the fact that both of these young men probably
were working on commission sales meaning they did not make a dime if they did
not sell something. When you consider
that possibility, are you so ready to scoff at what I wrote about? Was my mother correct in her thinking that
she didn’t feel she could trust someone with a beard? Absolutely not but that is what she believed. How she came to believe that I do not know
nor did I ask. Here is the most
important lesson of this story. She was
my mother and my mother would never lie to me.
So at the age of 10, what did I now believe? DON’T
TRUST ANYONE WITH A BEARD! I didn’t
need a reason, my mother had said it.
Another
story from my past and fortunately or unfortunately it also involved my
mother. Whenever someone would approach
our front door that she did not recognize, she would tell us to be quiet, “it’s
a salesman!” Again it came from my
mother so there must be good reason not to answer the door when a salesman
knocked. 60 plus years later, there is
something deep inside of me that suggests I should not trust anyone knocking at
my door that I do not know.
I
entered the real estate business in 1980 and became a real estate broker in
1982. I attended many sales classes and
taught them myself that suggested people new to the business should “knock on
doors.” This means that if they want to develop
a customer base they needed to meet people and one way to accomplish that was
to “knock on doors.” But wait, my mother
had told me not to trust strangers who just knocked on our door. Can you understand why knocking on doors was
so difficult for me to do? Can you
understand how prejudice in all forms are initially created and then passed
along?
If
you haven’t already begun to understand what I am attempting to convey let me
explain it in a very brief statement.
It does not matter what YOU think!
Right or wrong, tt’s all about what a probable CUSTOMER thinks!
It IS true,
it’s what the CUTOMER thinks!
We
as sales people, and we all are in sales of one type or another, truly do wear
our own personal “letters of credit” on our bodies as we talk to people who we
want to buy from us. From head to toe we
are, at least on the outside, who we appear to be. Short, tall, thin, overweight, bearded, clean
shaven, long hair, short hair, well dressed, not well dressed, moderate
jewelry, overdone jewelry, tattoos, no tattoos, shined shoes, no shined shoes (more
of an expression in the 1900s when “blackened” shoes was the acceptable look),
and a pleasant or unpleasant smell – DIFFERENCES!
Do
you think the bearded salesman would have chosen to wear his beard if he knew
for certain that it would have cost him a commission on the sale my mother made
that day? Maybe so; maybe not. Here’s a better question. If the salesman was married, do you think his
spouse would be concerned that he failed to make a sale because he preferred to
wear a beard?
Before
beard wearing readers get so angry with me, the beard is only a symbol or metaphor
what I am attempting to put importance on – THINGS MATTER. In the case
of the bearded salesperson – what was more important, making money or wearing
the beard? What IS more important, making money or having tattoos on your arms,
neck and even your face? What IS more important, making money or
having body piercings? What IS more important, making money or
wearing what YOU think is
appropriate rather than what a CUSTOMER
might expect?
Let
me be clear. None of these things unto themselves
are necessarily bad. They become bad IF the CUSTOMER has some form of prejudice against them or they fail to
meet the CUSTOMER’S
expectations. Keep in mind if YOU do not outwardly meet the CUSTOMER’S expectations, there are
others in sales that will
To
put this into perspective, assume that you make a sale and you will receive a check
for $1000.00. Being a younger person,
you see nothing wrong with having body piercings but the customer is anything
but young, in fact the customer is elderly.
The elderly person may accept body piercings but in my elderly world,
probably not. Therefore you can think
and believe that what someone else thinks of you is none of your business but
it IS your business if it prevents
you from making the sale.
You
may think that in your world having tattoos or having body piercings are
acceptable and they probably are. But
are you prepared to do business, makes sales, ONLY in your immediate world or environment? If so, fine but for most people they need to
expand their world to be more inclusive when it comes to attracting more
customers.
Be
aware that there is an age difference and that difference equates to potential
income, or not. If you choose to ignore
what older people believe to be acceptable, you choose to limit your sales and ultimately
your income.
FOR OLDER READERS, THE
EXACT OPPOSITE IS ALSO TRUE.
If YOU are trying to sell
someone your product, services or idea, are you limiting your customer base by
imposing your expectations on probable customers? My guess is that you are.
What
does all this mean? It means exactly
what Marden wrote in the above quote – you ARE
wearing your “Letter of Credit” on your face (body, wardrobe, language, words,
and/or attitude or even the car you drive or the cleanliness of your car). The probable or potential customer can see it
all, as can the world. Exactly what
image do you want the customer and the world to see? More importantly, it may be fitting in the
world you live but will it be acceptable in the world you may live in tomorrow?
This may be the MOST important question of all that only you can answer: WHAT IMAGINE DO YOU WANT A POTENTIAL FUTURE
IMPLOYER TO SEE? If you were the
employer would you hire the person YOU
see at the initial interview or would you find it difficult if not impossible
to see beyond what you outwardly see and never give the job applicant to prove
him or herself to you in spite of how they at first appear. Remember, it is the objective of the employer
to hire people that represent the “look” of the company they want the public to
see. IT MATTERS!
Remember, “Never
judge a book by its cover!”
Also remember, it is almost
impossible NOT to judge a book or a
person but its cover.
How do you want people to see you?
Your call!
Posts
