One Strike and You’re Invisible

Eddie didn’t call only when he needed to buy something. And I didn’t show up only when there was a sale to be had.

Sometimes Eddie needed a sounding board. Someone who understood the trucks, the equipment and the operation well enough to let him vent about what upper management didn’t understand about the yard.

There wasn’t always a quote waiting at the end of those conversations. No purchase order. No commission. Sometimes there wasn’t anything for me to do except listen.

But I kept showing up, and Eddie kept talking.

Somewhere along the way, he began testing me. Not with an order. With conversations.

He needed to know whether he could tell me what was really happening without hearing it repeated somewhere else. Whether I was listening to understand his problem or collecting information I could use on my next sales call.

The test wasn’t complicated. Eddie would tell me something, then wait to see if it came back around.

With Eddie, it wasn’t three strikes and you’re out.

It was one strike and you’re invisible.

Those conversations were sacred ground. If Eddie told me something in confidence, it stayed between Eddie and me. Period.

I didn’t run back to my company and use it to make myself look important. I didn’t drop it into another conversation to prove how much I knew. And I sure didn’t use it as leverage to push Eddie into buying something.

I kept my mouth shut.

Trust got me into the conversation. Integrity kept me there.

That trust wasn’t built with a deal sitting on the table. It was built during all those conversations when there wasn’t anything for me to sell.

As the years went by, I changed companies, positions and products.

Eddie was still Eddie.

The relationship didn’t stay behind when I changed jobs because it was never built around a company logo. It was built between two people.

Eddie also did a pretty good job of telling his buddies in the oil patch about me. Those referrals earned me a lot of business.

I was no longer the greenhorn with the clean truck.

Eddie had put his name beside mine. In the oil patch, Eddie’s word was gospel.

Burn the bridge with Eddie, and a whole lot of other bridges burn with it. Immediately.

If I gave Eddie a reason to stop trusting me, I wasn’t just invisible to him. I was damn sure going to be invisible to his buddies, too.

Keep in mind that when Eddie had a problem to solve, I got the phone call before the deal hit the street.

Most of the time, I had the opportunity to help write the specs because I was already privy to the problem he needed to solve.

I wasn’t waiting for a bid package with every other salesperson. I got to taste the meat before it was put on the porch for all the other dogs to eat.

That is when you become what I’ve always called the brother-in-law in the deal.

Every deal has one.

The brother-in-law is the person the customer trusts enough to call before everybody else knows there’s an opportunity, the person who gets the straight story, understands the problem and has the first chance to help shape the right solution.

Being the brother-in-law doesn’t guarantee you the order. It gives you a fair shot before the whole deal gets reduced to price.

But you don’t become the brother-in-law by asking for the next order every time you walk through the door. You become one by being useful when there isn’t an order.

You listen when the customer is frustrated. You tell the truth when your product isn’t right for the job. You do what you said you would do.

And when somebody trusts you with information that isn’t yours to repeat, you keep your mouth shut.

That’s not a sales technique.

That’s trust and integrity.

A lot of salespeople want the early phone call. They want to help write the specs. They want to know about the deal before it hits the street.

But they only show up when there’s something to sell.

I wasn’t there because there was a deal.

I was in the deal because I had always been there.

Consistency built the relationship. Trust opened the door. Integrity kept it open.

So, when you’re trusted with an Eddie conversation, does it stay in the vault, or end up on social media?

One strike and you’re invisible.

See you next week.

-HAMP