Friday, May 02, 2014

Sales Joke of the Day (May 2) The Career Change

A salesman was dismissed because he was rude to a customer. A month later the sales manager was speeding on his way to work and he was pulled over by his former subordinate who walked up to his car wearing a police uniform.


“I see you’ve joined the police force John.” said his former sales manager.


“Yes, Sir. This is the job I’ve been looking for all my life.  Here, the customer is always wrong,” replied John.


Moral of the story.   True sales professionals know that in order to succeed at sales you must never be rude to your customers or your sales career will come to dead stop.  Not a rolling stop or you'll wind up being pulled over by a policeman.  But at least you'll be able to chat about what it used to be like working in sales.   Who knows, the two of you may bond and you could end up getting out of that ticket.  


True sales managers know they must always be careful, equitable and polite when dismissing salespeople from their team.   In a way, every rep a sales manager has to fire or let go could be viewed as a failure of that manager.  Poor hiring, insufficient coaching or the lack of swift corrective measures can't be blamed entirely on the rep.   And then there is always karma.   If you wrong another individual it always comes backs to bite you in the, wallet of course!   What were you thinking?


"A fit body gives you confidence.  And there's nothing more impressive than a great attitude you can wear on your sleeve.  But you'll have to remember the difference between being rude and being confident."    -  Virat Kohli