You Probably Don’t Want to Drive That Clean Pickup Down There

Selling truck equipment into the oil and gas industry can be very rewarding. It can also be a little frustrating, especially when you’re on the road making cold calls.

The environment can be muddy, sometimes dark and usually off the beaten path. Pretty much the opposite of cold calling an executive sitting in a modern office with a formal gatekeeper whose job is to keep you out.

The oil patch has gatekeepers too. They just look a little different.

They’re the guys standing next to the equipment watching you pull into the yard. You can almost hear the conversation before you get out of your truck.

“I wonder what this greenhorn is selling.”

It’s a lot like showing up at a party without an invitation. And you learn pretty quickly that you can’t fake credibility. They’ll figure that out about the time you step out of your pickup.

“Watcha want?”

Usually the first words you hear.

“Is Eddie around?”

That’s who my buddies told me I needed to see.

“He’s down in the bottoms. You probably don’t want to drive that clean pickup down there.”

There it was.

I could have asked if somebody would go get Eddie. I could have left a card. I could have decided maybe this wasn’t the best day to see him and come back another time.

Instead, I asked one question.

“How do I get down there?”

I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the first move toward what would become a great relationship. Those guys weren’t just giving me directions.

They were giving me a test.

Would the greenhorn actually go down there? Would he get that clean pickup muddy? Or was he just another salesman who wanted to talk about their business without getting close enough to understand it?

I didn’t pretend to know how to get down there. And I surely didn’t care if my truck got muddy.

I had just passed test #1.

I made it down that slippery slope and eventually found a temporary field office with equipment sitting everywhere. I got out of my now muddy pickup, walked to the door and went inside.

Three guys wearing Carhartt's were sitting there.

They just looked at me.

“Is Eddie around?”

One of them looked back at me.

“I’m Eddie.”

And the conversation started.

I wasn’t there to sell him anything that day. I didn’t have some big pitch I needed to get through before he threw me out.

I just wanted to meet him.

Maybe if I did that right, I’d get invited to the party the next time.

And eventually, I did.

Years later, after Eddie and I had worked together on a couple of equipment projects, he told me something I never forgot.

I was the first salesman who had ever driven down to that field office just to meet him.

Think about that.

Plenty of people wanted to sell Eddie equipment. Apparently, not many were willing to drive down a slippery hill, get their pickup muddy and meet him where he actually worked.

There was no sales presentation that day. No quote. No proposal. No order.

Just a muddy pickup, three guys in Carhartt's and a conversation.

But something happened.

We respected each other.

Over the years, I delivered a lot of equipment to Eddie. More importantly, that mutual respect lasted until the day he passed away.

I still think about him.

And I think about how easily that entire relationship might never have happened. All I had to do was decide that those guys standing in the yard were right.

Maybe I really didn’t want to take my clean pickup down there.

Instead, I asked:

“How do I get down there?”

There’s a lesson in there for anybody who makes a living selling something.

Sometimes the most important call you make is the one where you don’t try to sell anything.

Show up. Respect where your customer works. Don’t pretend to know things you don’t. Be willing to get a little mud on the tires.

And maybe earn an invitation to the party next time.

Funny.

We’ve talked about understanding how the mud gets on the tires before.

I guess I learned that lesson a long time ago.

Sometimes you have to be willing to drive down into the bottoms and find out for yourself.

You can’t fake shop credibility.

And you sure as hell can’t earn it from the top of the hill with a clean pickup.

See you next week…

The journey continues.

— HAMP