No Thanks, We are too busy!!!

The image above has been doing the rounds on LinkedIn and it got me thinking, which some would say is slightly dangerous. 

Initially I was of the mindset that most other people 'Yeah that's so true', 'I know loads of people like that', 'This cartoon sums it up'....you get the point. I nearly shared the picture with a similar comment. and then I did something my boss keeps telling me 'Daniel - Go and get the teas in' and after I drank my tea (milk and 2 if you are asking) I remember the second best piece of advice he gave me last week. 'Don't answer the question, ask why'.

So having found it hard to question the Neanderthal men directly, I had to try and run through what I thought was happening in the picture. So thinking about the possible scenarios:

1. What if the square wheel chaps don't understand that round wheels beat square wheels?
2. What if the square wheels chaps understand that round wheels beat square wheels but haven't seen these round wheels?
3. What if the square wheel chaps understand that round wheels beat square wheels but they are using the fact they are 'busy' as an excuse not to speak to the round wheel chap?
4. What if the square wheel chaps don't know what a wheel is and have been told not to talk to men with square wheels (or any other shaped wheels...damn those odd shaped wheel men!) as they know their wheels best.

I am sure there are a few other scenarios but we will leave it at four for now.

Now the ideal way for this picture to be resolved would be for the square wheel chaps to stop and chat to the round wheel chap, understand that round wheels beat square wheels, spend 2 minutes changing the wheels and arrive at their destination 10 minutes earlier. This would free up 8 more minutes time to build a nice rockery, thus finishing the rockery earlier and being able to go home earlier. Plus getting a nice gold star from Head of Rocks for improving the rock deployment mechanism, saving the company thousands of minutes in wasted time.

So what do you take from this.

If you sell round wheels, describe why and how round wheels beat square wheels, demonstrate how round wheels save time/money/both, identify the people that can make the decision on buying wheels and talk round wheels to them. Finally, like a good round wheel keep going and going and going.

If you use square wheels, listen to what round wheel man has to say. The conversation might just make your life wheely easier (sorry couldn't resist!) and get you a pat on the back from Head of Rocks.

If you want to talk wheels, round, square or any other shape, then call or email me.

Dan
07772953490
daniel.white@gbgplc.com

Oh no not another salesman.......

I was going to call this Confessions of an Account Manager or Confessions of a Business Development Manager or Confessions of a Really Nice Bloke That Just Wants To Talk To You but I settled on Confessions of a Salesman because that is is what I do.....well sort of.

Yes I sell 'Cleanse, Validation and Append' solutions to B2C organisations (more on what that means later..if you get that far) but I do a lot more than just 'Sell'. If I just sold 'stuff' to anybody I wouldn't get anywhere. I have to be a product expert, a sector expert, a great negotiator, a project manager, a great person to get on with, a great proposal writer, understand my client's requirements and also be able to walk away from a deal (remember this bit for later). I don't want sympathy, I don't want tears, I am just trying to inform.

Yes as a salesman, I am ruthless to a certain extent, I cut the odd corner (who doesn't), I want to sell to make money, so that my wife and kids can have the nice things that I didn't. I want to live very comfortably thank you very much and why shouldn't I have that aspiration? After all we all go to work to live our lives how we want. Don't we?

Having said all this, the only way I can stay in my job is to 'sell' Cleanse, Validation and Append solutions. To do this I don't just pitch up to a meeting and say I can sell my 'stuff' cheaper than their 'stuff', anybody can do that. Yes, if I did this it would get me some sales in the short term but I would soon have my boss on the phone asking me exactly what I am doing.

Pulling this all together no I don't just 'Sell' I have to understand so much information about the person I am talking to and the organisation they work for. Only then can I sell a solution, or not. The not is very important because if I can't sell a beneficial solution I wont. The 'sale' has to be great for both parties. When I say beneficial I mean the organisation has to generate more cash or reduce costs or both.

What do I want you to take from this? Well if you are responsible for Cleansing, Validating or Appending consumer/customer/supporter/citizen/whatever (but not B2B) data then give me a call, we can have a coffee and a chat, although I prefer tea. You never know you might just come out of the meeting with one of your key objectives resolved, a pat on the back from your boss, a pay rise, a holiday in the sun......

Cleanse - Mover, Deceased, Goneaways, Duplicates
Validate - Addresses, People, Landlines, Mobiles, Emails
Append - Landlines, Mobiles, Emails, Social Media IDs, Date of Births, TPS, MPS, Demographics, Lifestyle Data, Transactional Data

I am only successful when you are successful.

Have a great day.

Dan
07772953490