Great Salespeople Never Kiss Ass

I was having lunch recently with a salesperson of one of our portfolio companies. He had gone through quite the streak. His sales had not just gone up, but off the charts. But why? I was hoping his answers might lead us to re-train the other staff, or perhaps develop new systems. He said the key to his success was quite simple -- he quit kissing ass.

As a base rule, no one likes a sycophant. But at some time we all have been overly generous, kind, or complimentary hoping to ingratiate ourselves. The logic goes something like this: people buy from those they like; people like compliments, humility, and accommodations; more people will buy from me if I bend over backwards for them.

The problem is in sales situations people start from a position of skepticism. Call it sales-dar, or the radar we all have for being sold. Most sales situations are packed with negative context, leading to a high barrier of trust. The same logic that lead the salesperson to be accommodating and humble ends up being interpreted as false kindness and weakness: this guy must have a crap product, or he wouldn’t be so excited to buy me coffee; what a phony, no one is that humble; he must really need the sale, or he wouldn’t agree to my ridiculous demands.

Unhealthy relationships are never valuable. Unreasonable demands left unchecked are never profitable. Stop chasing dollars, drop the BS, and simply figure out if there’s an opportunity to work together.