For those of us working in the exciting world of sales, we are all too familiar with the pressures of meeting our daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly goals. This pressure can sometimes cause us to lose focus on the simple things that made us successful to begin with. When we make a sales presentation, it is all too essential to look and sound the part. A professional appearance and product knowledge are to very important ingredients involved in sales. But don�t ever loose sight of the fact that sales is supposed to be fun! A personal story . . . I can remember a time a few years back, when I was managing a bank branch inside a supermarket, otherwise known as In-Store banking. At that time, we had daily goals that we were required to meet, and those goals were unit and dollar driven. It was a fast paced environment and every technique we could think of was incorporated into our sales. Nothing was taken for granted. Including the simple stuff. One particular afternoon I received a phone call from a woman who informed me that she was new to the area, and she was shopping around for a bank. We had a pleasant conversation, and I explained to her all of our products starting with our free checking, and ending with our more exclusive products. Once the conversation was over, she thanked me and told me she would consider us. I thanked her as well, and ended by telling her my name again, and that she could ask for me, if she decided to come in. The next day, that same woman walked into my branch and asked for me, she reminded me of the conversation we had the day before, and than proceeded to tell me that she came in because I was so nice on the telephone. The fact is, I was really nice on the telephone, I knew I had a potential customer on the phone and I killed her with kindness. Not because I was being slick, but because it was easy, it was simple, and I had fun doing it. And it worked. There was no selling involved in that conversation. I was just being a nice person. Salesmanship is important, but people want kindness to. My point is, take some of the pressure off of yourself and start having fun! Be nice, smile. It is not always necessary to act and speak so professionally, it can come off fake, and worst of all boring. So starting tomorrow, take a load off, roll up your sleeves, smile, laugh out loud, and most of all have fun and keep it simple!
