Proforma-Blog-Million-Dollar-Mindset-Greg-Muzzillo

We Were Not Undressing! Putting Some Fun Into Selling

Back when I was growing my original Proforma distributorship, I was teaching one of our newer sales reps how to conduct field calls.

In my view, field calling is a lost skill. Sadly, in this day of email and voicemail, salespeople think they don’t need to get out and do field calls. I strongly disagree (other than in the skyscrapers that have lots of security preventing random field calling). But I digress.

So we were out in the field, grinding out some field calls, and we came upon a law firm named Endress & Endress. As we were walking into this law firm, the sales rep and I looked at each other and had the same idea at the same time.

We approached the receptionist and started taking off our jackets and ties.

She gave us a puzzled look and asked what we were doing. We replied, “We are endressing and endressing.”

Unfortunately, she was not amused. She called security and we were asked to leave the premises. We made our apologies and left.

We honestly thought stunt would be better received. We thought she would have a good chuckle. In any event, we tried to put some levity in our day of field calling.

The bottom line: First, if you aren’t field calling and your sales are under $400,000 per year, let me encourage you to get out there and learn how to field call. It’s a great way to learn about a company. It’s a great way to learn who the decision makers are. It’s a good way to “practice” selling. Remember, a sales rep in motion tends to stay in motion. A sales rep at rest tends to stay at rest.

The bottom, bottom line: Try to have some fun out there. Selling can be fun.

_________________________________________________________________________

Read past articles in Greg’s Million Dollar Mindset at Promo Marketing Magazine

AboutGreg Muzzillo, Founder of Proforma

Greg Muzzillo started Proforma as an industry distributor in 1978. The company grew quickly and in the early 1980s Proforma was recognized for three consecutive years on Inc. magazine’s list of the 500 fastest growing companies in North America. In the late 1980’s Proforma introduced its membership program to enable distributors to retain their business ownership and independence, and to share in sales and marketing resources, purchasing power with industry suppliers, one back office including all billing, accounting, vendor payments, cash flow, computer systems and more. Today Proforma has more than 750 members with over $500 million in sales. Proforma has over 100 members in its Million Dollar Club and more than 40 members in its Multi-Million Dollar Club (With sales ranging from $2 million to over $26 million). In 2014, eight Proforma members were named to Inc. magazine’s Inc. 5000 List of the 5000 Fastest Growing Companies.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *