More specifically, the IT person's process, not yours.
A post by Jay Rollins over at TechRebublic is very interesting.
The premise is software selection, but the basics apply to anyone approaching the IT folks.
The account is quiet funny - especially, because all the things he went through, we can all see happening.
Thomas the Tank Engine as a tool?
A Pizza Party for ALL THE SUPPORT TEAM?
Oh, and a pushy sales person - no way, can't happen.
The best quote from his post, "...The next time a vendor wants to impose their process on us instead of the other way around, I’ll tell them to take a hike..."
Copiers, printers, Blades, paper, toner, MPS, PM, managed services, paperclips - if you sell, keep selling, sell today, sell in a recession, sell in a depression, sell even though the gov't takes half, never stop.
You sell. You don't run from history.
You make it.
It's tough out here - but here we are.
Thing is, it can always be worse -
Superbowl, 2002. Just months after 911.
The nation was in mourning - we needed something to get ourselves back up. Soldiers were cool again.
Do you remember the Empty Sky's of 9-12? That was scary.
Superbowl, for us, represented something more than a football game - it meant we were still here, the US, we Americans were still standing.
Still here to do what we Americans do: watch football, buy music, dance in the frickin streets, flaunt those who hate us, those who would kill us, and to sell.
We were celebrating life while remembering those who went before us.
It took a few crazy Muslims to tear down the towers.
But a rock band from Ireland, it's lead crooner sporting goofy blue shades, helped us remember who we are and helped us tell the world, we weren't going anywhere.
Let the cube rats play in the dark. Let the sales managers who have forgotten their passion and left their soul somewhere in the corporate cafeteria, try to keep score.
Keep going, no matter who, no matter what gets in your way - don't let them win.
Not the congressmen we elect, not the fat, lazy, bureaucrats, not your covetous neighbors, not the terrorists or that overly pompous PA can keep you down. You know the score.
It can all end tomorrow, for them it will be a period at the end of an empty life.
For us, we who make things out of nothing, we will be complete.
I see that the blogosphere is dispatching its share of gloom and doom. And predictably, so is the "mainstream" media - but this time, I don't think that the media is exaggerating the circumstances - it is bad out here.
In the sales world, it seems at every turn, there is another "expert" telling us how to sell in these difficult times, how to save our career in these difficult times, how to find clients in these difficult times, and how to make more money in these difficult times.
In light of all the "difficult economic times..." chatter, I have a question:
Why or how is it that we should be doing things differently now?
Shouldn't our "plans" and strategies, our skills and fortitude allow us to face the stiff winds with our chins out?
I mean, as salespeople, shouldn't we be used to idiot managers who have never sold, ding-dong owners who demand more, expect more, pay less, and maximize their personal financial position over others?
Are not we familiar with "negativity", rejection, and "turbulent financial circumstances"?
Who of us has never failed? Which one has never been “let-go” and faced the world without a job?
Are we not the same ones who not so long ago, looked at people who couldn't sell themselves out of a wet paper bag, making bank by writing shady mortgage agreements for anyone with a pulse? Was that fair? Was that the way it should be?
Or as outside Selling Professionals, do we take exception with the “inside order fulfillment” folks claiming to be Sales People and demanding like compensation for filling out an order form? Yet, we continue to pound the pavement, make a sale that helps pay for the inside order takers', kids' baseball gloves?
The bold, the strong, and the steady knew it would not last. The smart (and you didn't need to be all that smart) could see that the boom times were built on paper machete – not bedrock.
These times are trying, and will only get more challenging.
Now the REAL you will come out.
Now we will see REAL Rainmakers.
Where once there was no shade, we create forests.
Now we will see who is really good at doing what’s best for clients, families, companies, and our country.
We make something out of nothing. It is what we do, it is what we love to do; it is what is needed to be done.
This is what it means to Sell.
It's not the Profession, it is the people in the profession - there are lots of layoffs right now, and you don't need to be reminded. But lay off a Selling Professional, and he will make things happen to bring shade where there once was none.
Layoff a line worker or a cube rat - and he will make everyone around him miserable, spewing blame in all directions, queuing up for the "stupid persons" bail-out.
It’s easy to be in Sales when times are good – let's see who can walk the walk today.
