Wisdom From My Dad

In a past article I shared some wisdom from my mom that sales people would be wise to heed. This resource is about some wisdom from my dad that a friend recently reminded me of.

I grew up in a village of 500 people in rural British Columbia. I was living back home in between my first and second years of college doing an internship at a software company in the bustling metropolis of 3,000 people in one town over. My dad, who for most of his career was a public health inspector, and I were out for lunch at a local cafe. We were sitting on the patio when the Owner came out, said “hi” to my dad and then said, “hey I need to come to see you because I need to get a liquor license.”

My dad replied to the Owner, “happy to help you out with that, out of curiosity where do you want to serve the liquor?”

The Owner of the cafe looked at him kind of oddly and said, “well, like everywhere. Inside and on the patio.” My dad said, “I'm glad you told me that because in our province if you want to serve liquor outside of four enclosed walls you have to get a what's called a “European liquor license.” The Owner turned to me and said, “your dad just saved me hundreds of dollars and hours of my time and possible fines for violations and he didn't have to do that. His job is to inspect and keep the everybody safe who comes to my cafe but he's so focused on helping the people that he works with as opposed to waiting for them to mess up so he can issue them a fine.”

?I don't think I've ever told that story since I joined Sandler over 12 years ago, however I was speaking with a friend of mine recently and when they asked, “why you do what you do” that story just came out.

For sellers that’s prescient wisdom because when we out with a genuine mindset of “I'd like to support you” versus “I'd like to take as much money as I can from you” we differentiate ourselves from the other sellers that our buyers interacting with.

We're certainly not going to earn a prospects business 100% of the time or have 100% of our clients think that we descended from on high with sunshine and rainbows following us; however, when we have a mindset of genuine support we tend to attract more of the right type of client. The buyers who are looking to create a parasitic relationship tend to be repelled by our genuine outlook of support because it doesn't resonate with them.

I'm very grateful that I got to experience that moment with my dad and very grateful that my friend drew that story out of me because in telling it, I reinforced to myself how I approach all interactions professional and personal.

Until next time… go sell something.

PS. A couple weeks ago I asked my dad on our weekly call about that story. He didn’t recall it and asked me to tell him, which made me feel wonderful. He got to relive a story that was so impactful to me again for the first time.