From 1998 until 2007, save for a brief hiatus (I temporarily left the company in search of greener pastures), I worked for a software/technology firm. I was a dedicated employee with a strong work ethic and committed my time, appropriately, to my responsibilities. I was both well known and well respected. Being the only employee in the company history to ever be rehired after a short hiatus definitely supported this claim.
In 2005, a new manager was hired to oversee our team. At first, everybody seemed to like him real well. He was charismatic, approachable, knowledgeable, and, above all, willing to jump in and get his hands dirty, a trait that no previous manager had ever possessed! He seemed to be really interested in each of us, regularly engaging us in conversation and, seemingly, expressing a real interest in both our personal and professional lives. One thing in particular that he did really well was to boost team morale. He accomplished this in many different ways, but one of the more effective ways he did this was through developing these contests that had dual functions: (1) increase revenue, and (2) provide additional sources of income for the winning team member.
As is to be expected, everyone was on board and it did indeed significantly increase morale on the sales floor. That is, until that fateful day in December of 2005, when he introduced the mother of all contests: Sell the most Upgrade Insurance (UI) and win a 42” Plasma TV, and—the real clincher—just in time for the Super Bowl!! At the very onset of the competition, I set myself up right by not only selling UI to any and all new clients, but I also reached out to each existing client to offer the UI, a strategy no other team member had considered. Because I had already developed relationships with my existing clients, the sale was a piece of cake, especially since the product was greatly reduced for those individuals that had already previously purchased the software. Because of this, I buried all the other reps on the team!
I left work that day with a shiny, new 42” plasma television, and, as promised, just in time for the Super Bowl! But it didn’t take me long to realize that I also walked away with something far greater than just a TV. You see it turns out that the act (or art) of ‘sales’ isn’t just about selling, or even selling the most. It’s about relationships—developing, maintaining and retaining relationships—and the benefits gained from such. And I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the real prize that day had nothing to do with the TV and everything to do with the lesson learned.