Strategic sales and the search for the “Perfect Red Lipstick”

I was challenged a while ago (yes, by you Andy Golden …??) to share how I have honed my skills as a seller. Throughout my professional journey, I have embraced challenges, sought growth opportunities, and developed a deep passion for forging meaningful connections with clients. In this series, I will take you through the winding road of my career,? the lessons I've learned, and the strategies I have developed that continue to keep me curious, even after more than a decade in the field of technology sales.

I once attended a sales training in which the trainer stated “This is a complex sale. It is not simple, like selling lipstick.” After a long-winded definition of complex sales and a brief agenda for the day, she transitioned to introductions, asking each class member to introduce ourselves and what our sales experience was.?

When my turn came around, I confidently stood, and introduced myself. “My name is Robin and I sold lipstick. Can I ask you a question?” She nodded, and I asked “You have gorgeous strawberry blonde hair and freckles, do you ever wear red lipstick?”?

Her answer, “No, I don’t look good in red lipstick.”??

“Exactly,” I said, “because anyone can sell you a lipstick, but finding just the right lipstick is a complex problem. I know just the shade for your skin tone and coloring. I can show it to you after class.”? She smiled at me, winked and class moved on. We became fast friends and? laughed about that for years. If you are wondering, the now discontinued shade was Lancome’s Fraise de Bois - she loved it.

Retail Beginnings and Developing a Customer-focused Sales Mindset:

From the outset of my career as a retail salesperson, I recognized the importance of building a strong foundation. As a cosmetic counter manager, I was educated by some of the best sales trainers I have ever had.??

Ginger Bishop taught me the fundamentals of understanding customer needs. In every customer discovery since,? I think of her metaphor for gaining information: a discovery is like a window shade, the object is to keep the shade open by using open-ended questions and great conversation. It doesn’t matter what your product can do, unless it solves the problem your customer has.?

Clienteleing, not a term we hear often in technology, started with a card file box on the counter - but was really about getting to know my customers as people. Just last week, a former Estee Lauder client stopped me to reminisce and thank me for my services. My award-winning team of beauty advisors still stay in touch with reunions and celebrations of accomplishments, and recently mourning the loss of a teammate.?

Relationship building and cross-functional collaboration was modeled for me by amazing co-workers and leaders like Alyson Leigh Eddins , Judy Everts , Judy Ivens, Jane Hale, Ralph Ray , Paul Shore , Jenniffer White and Sheila Wilson .?

Retail success was measured daily, weekly and sometimes hourly. There were measurements for Average Dollars and Units per Sale, Shrink percentage goals, Total Sales, and Percentage Increase/Decrease to Last Year, and more. Having to meet those goals and metrics early on in my career ensured I developed a data-driven mindset from the get go. The late, GREAT Al Monteleone was instrumental in teaching me how to understand and respond to sales data, and even better how to tell its story to leadership.

I was so excited when I won my first ever Professional Sales Club award - as a cosmetic seller, that was very unusual! I may have closed those sales, but they were due to the excellent work of people like Lane Barrocas , Richard Carter , Mark Fedyk , Torie Hardee , Shera Swanson Petty , and Kim Staczek . They encouraged me to excel and learn. They understood how to spark the fire within and they kept the flame lit. They fired up my imagination and innovation engines. I'll expand on those first technological innovations, the birth of CRM and content marketing, followed by my idea for a POS-data-for-all initiative in my next post.?

I am deeply grateful for the foundation that my clients and colleagues helped me build in my time in retail. The seller I am today is a result of the lessons learned, while selling the elusive “perfect red lipstick.”

If you'd like to connect, collaborate, or learn more about my journey, please don't hesitate to reach out. Together, we can unlock the power of strategic sales and create a brighter future for businesses worldwide. Follow-up next week!

#sales #salesleadership #customerexperience #innovation #retail #beauty #technology