Quote for the Day

"It is how you play the game that determines if you win or lose." Gil Minor

Years ago I worked with a small distributorship that only had three salespeople and maybe four office / warehouse people. This was an industry that was male dominated; engineers and mechanics, while NASCAR, hunting/fishing, football etc were the topics of the day.

The number 1 saleperson at this account was (probably is) a lady. No, she was not a tall, willowy blonde but a very plain, short and round person. Her strengths were product knowledge and efficiency. Her products were industrial tools, machine tools and top of the line customer service. Though relatively young in the industry, she could talk about cutting speeds, lubricants, torque and all the types of accessories needed in the machine shop industry.

In the days before cell phones, she constantly stopped at hotels (they're quieter) and used the pay phones in the lobby to call for P&D or technical information. She'd then call the customer right back and would always ASK FOR THE ORDER. She was really successful.

Your phone is probably in your pocket, on your hip or on your ear. How quickly do you handle customer requests? Do you always ask for the order? Even if the customer says "no rush", you should react as if there is because frequently the first in the door will win the war.

How does this tie in to the quote? The world is full of beautiful people, genious people, social people but all of that is for naught if you don't do what needs to be done to win the game.