Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The "Tommy Boy" Approach to Sales


How many of us have watched the movie Tommy Boy starring David Spade and the late Chris Farley?  I watched it last night for the 30th time since its release in 1995.   Each time I watch this movie, I find it funnier and funnier.  Most of us today, recognize this as a comedy but also a sales movie.  My job is 100% sales. While I laugh at this movie, the pure fact is that there is a lot we can take away from this movie.  We can all benefit from a bit of sales training.
Tommy Boy is a movie about the world’s most unlikely brake pad salesman. We learn a few things about him throughout the movie. For one, it took him seven years to finish his undergraduate degree. Second, he commonly refers to John Hancock as Herbie Hancock. Finally, he’s overweight, clumsy and always wears a clip-on tie. His dad could “sell a ketchup popsicle to a women in white gloves”, but old Tommy Boy is lacking in these skills.
After the death of Tommy Boy Sr, the family business is in need of some major sales. In desperation, Tommy Boy is sent on the road to make the annual sales trip.  Tommy Boy and his road companion Richard Hayden had a lot of no’s, before they finally learn to make the sales stick. Here are a few things I learned from this unorthodox sales team and I bet you can apply it to your company too.
Stand Behind Your Product
“Hey, if you want me to take this box and mark it guaranteed… I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer’s sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me”.

One of Tommy’s first big sales is hallmarked by this great quote surrounding the guarantee on the outside of the box. According to the purchaser, a guarantee makes a man feel all warm inside. As a salesman, it is impossible to really be effective unless you have a true passion for what you are selling, even if that passion takes some time to develop. Buyers can sense when you are wary. In sales, we have to be able to stand confidently behind the products we are selling.  For me, working at the Conference Group, this is easy.  As most of you know, I’ve spent the past 23 years working in Telecom.  I’ve sold phone systems, hardware, firmware, VoIP, T1’s, POTS.. you name it and the one thing I found with each product is problems.  80% of my time was spent fixing provisioning nightmares… and you know it’s out there.  I don’t care what company you are selling and how well they pay.  Bottom line is there are problems.  I can say coming to the Conference Group for the past year, I have had ZERO customer service, provisioning or commission problems.  I can say that I stand 200% behind our products and services.  Can you?
Build Trust
“You’re right! You’re not your dad! He could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves!”

One of the most important roles of sales is getting your buyer to put their trust in you. At one point during the movie, Richard tells Tommy Boy that their buyers aren’t purchasing brake pads, they are purchasing them. He was right. Customers do business with people they like, know, and trust. Building trust with them on and off the sales floor is crucial for long term success.  TCG has been very successful in building trust with our agents.  The most successful Agents for us allow us to interact pre-sales and post-sales with their clients.  We have built a book of Partners that have been with us for the longevity and are successful in what they do.  I hope in the next year, you too will become one of those agents!
Think Strategically
“EXCUSE ME!…… This will only take a minute!”

The climax of the movie takes place when Tommy Boy convinces his fiercest competitor to purchase 500,000 of his brake pads. The sale saves the company, and certainly wasn’t accomplished without a lot of ingenuity. Tommy’s contrived plan included a news crew, a lot of duct tape, and even a few road flares. It required some strategic thinking that leveraged his strengths, and his competitor’s weaknesses. In sales, we need to be smart and we need to be strategic. How will purchasing our products strategically help the person we are selling to?  With TCG, our strategy is to bring our agents products that will enable their clients to be more productive, save time and also save them money.  The Conference Group does this with a suite of services such as web collaboration, video conferencing, audio conferencing, and mobile apps.   We have targeted products that will benefit your customer and most importantly we’ve done so at a competitive price while delivering high quality audio, video and web services.  Our successful agents have done the same thing with their portfolio.  They are not going into their clients with just one product.  To be successful in telecom today, you have to know the industry and where it is going.  Let  me help you when it comes to your clients audio conferencing, web conferencing and video conferencing!  I’ve said it many times and I will continue to tell you- if you aren’t selling conferencing, your competition is!

- Caroline
caroline.rogers@conferencegroup.com  

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