Another Sales KILLER

Another fellow who worked for me many years ago was a major worry wart. He was always finding fault with our products (not this company, by the way), our systems, our people, our customer service. Every day he'd be on the phone with me crying about this or that. His most common issue was "The other guy is selling it cheaper," or "The competition's product has this feature that we don't," or something similar.

A funny thing happened one year. He had the primo territory and had always held his own against others in the field. But as the complaints grew, his sales fell. As his sales fell, his complaints grew, which caused his sales to fall even further. He, of course took no responsibility and couldn't see his role in the problem.

But the other salesfolks were not having any decreases in their sales. In fact, the star player's numbers kept going up.

Does this mean that you should never rag on your company management or your suppliers when they are messing up. Of course you should. But get it said and get on with selling. If the company is messed up enough, change companies. A negative attitude results in negative sales.