Three lessons I learned from my fellow salespeople

This week, I had the chance to spend a day with my colleagues at the TIMOCOM booth at the transport logistic fair in Munich.

As you may know, the TIMOCOM system is used by more than 43,000 companies from all over Europe to optimise their logistics process management as well as transport planning.

As I have been involved in marketing for 9 years now, a trade fair is always an unparalleled opportunity for me to "feel" the pulse of the market, thanks to open and sincere discussions with our customers. But I must admit that, this time, the real added value that I brought home with me from the day at transport logistics, was given to me by my sales colleagues.

The fair was extremely crowded and, as a result, so was our stand. Many of our account managers worked for several hours in a row, without a breath, just eating a snack and drinking a glass of water every now and then. That was amazing! I quickly realized that I was witnessing an exceptional performance: a bit like when you find yourself, almost by chance, in front of the TV watching an extraordinary sporting event and you can't help but stay in front of the screen until the end. Well, for this very reason, I decided to observe them and, when I could, I approached them while they were in talks with customers.

So here are three things that, in a few hours, they have taught me and that I will also try to apply in my work as a marketeer:

1.           Define a clear and linear strategy, but implement it with unconventional tactics

On the TIMOCOM booth, the strategy is clear: to undertake qualified interviews with customers and potential customers, avoiding inviting visitors to the stand who are not part of our target group or who have no interest in our services. For this reason, our sales team is perfectly organized and everyone, on the booth and around the booth, has a well-defined task, to ensure that people, time and resources are used in the most effective and profitable way possible. As clear as it may be, this strategy could lead to unsatisfactory results if it would not implemented with a winning tactic. And that's the first lesson I learned, when I saw my colleague Mario stopping a distinguished suit-and-tie gentleman crossing the corridor in front of our booth. "Close your eyes and draw a card," my colleague tells him, handing him a bunch of our advertising brochures. "Excuse me?" replied surprised the gentleman. "Close your eyes and draw a card, you won't regret it!” Unexpectedly, the gentleman poses his briefcase, and does what he’s been asked to. "Now you can reopen your eyes: Do you know that you have just fished the future of your logistics?” The gentleman bursts out laughing and, two minutes later, I see them in front of our desk discussing about TIMOCOM and how our system could be implemented in his company. Even if the strategy was clear, if my colleague Mario had used a conventional tactic, he would certainly have had less chance of successfully capturing that gentleman's attention.

2.           Use some human touch to build strong and lasting personal relationships with your customers

For digital service providers like TIMOCOM, whose applications are used by hundreds of thousands of users every day, building a personal relationship between brand, company and customers is a big challenge. Funnel, marketing automation systems, CRM software are certainly essential methods and technologies to facilitate the formation of a happy relationship, both for the company and its customers. However, I am convinced that the most solid and lasting brand-relationships we have, are those that are also based on a strong emotional component.

Seeing this customer looking for my colleague Francesco, going to him to embrace him and take a picture together, has reinforced this conviction in me. I'm sure this gentleman is very satisfied with our product, but I'm also convinced that it's linked to the brand TIMOCOM also thanks to the human and emotional touch received by our staff during his customer experience.

The lesson of sales for marketing is therefore this: never forget the human touch in the planning and implementation of campaigns or marketing actions, if we want to build something stable and lasting with our customers. Thanks to the technologies available to us, it is now easy to be data driven, but let's not forget to do what should be the most natural thing to do: being soul driven.

3. Create a sense of belonging

In sport, a uniform is necessary not only to distinguish your teammates from your opponents during a match, but it is even more important to create a sense of belonging within the team and between the team and its fans. In the same way, a corporate outfit component can also make an important contribution to strengthening the cohesion and collaboration within the team during a short but extremely intense event such as a trade fair. It also allows customers to perceive a clear and orderly image of your staff as well, bringing them even closer to your brand.

This year, for our team, we opted for personalized sneakers that immediately triggered the dynamics described above: on the first day of the fair, for the ritual photos, there was also the "feet only" version: the shoes immediately became a symbol of belonging to the team.

Obviously, from tomorrow, I will not force my entire team to come to the office dressed in the same way, nor will we give out uniforms to our customers. But I promise myself to look for ideas that can create a stronger sense of belonging, both within my team and with our customers.

Thanks to all my colleagues for the great inspiration they gave me and, in particular, to Mario and Francesco, for quoting their best practices.