Strive to Be Ronald

Watch this week's Short Attention Span Sales Tip video here.

Good morning!

Have you seen “Jury Duty” on Amazon Prime yet?

This is the show everyone is talking about and I highly recommend you give it a watch. I'm not much one for binging and taking in episode after episode in one sitting, but this would have been the show that changed that.

The premise is simple: It's a fake jury and a fake trial, where everyone from the judge to the plaintiff to the defendant to the lawyers and the jury members are actors.

All except one person: Ronald Gladden. A real person who thinks it’s all real.

If you have not seen the show, don't worry, there really is no spoiler. I just told you exactly what the show itself spells out in the opening credits.

What follows is a series of outrageous situations and conversations carefully crafted (but spontaneously delivered in an improv kind of way) with Ronald acting as the lone variable.

No one knew how he would react.

In a small way, this show — and Ronald in particular — will renew your faith in mankind. For time after time he reacts with kindness, acceptance, and forgiveness in a way that can only be labeled as envious.

I, for one, could not say I would have been as generous and kind-hearted.

When given the chance to mock, he doesn’t. Where others would reject, he accepts. While witnessing unacceptable behavior, he forgives.

See the show and then put it into a business perspective:

• The client takes your idea and goes shopping with it, ultimately purchasing at a lower price from another vendor.
• Despite the fact your first meeting with a client went very well, they are ghosting you and call after call goes unanswered.
• A longtime customer suddenly leaves you.

There are so many opportunities in sales to feel cheated, taken advantage of, or be left out in the cold.

React like Ronald.

There is no downside to doing the right thing, the admirable thing, the enviable thing. You never know who might be watching.

When I first started out in sales, I heard the story of a client calling a sales rep after a first order. He was furious, claiming there to be a major problem with the job and hanging up before the sales rep could respond. The rep immediately grabbed the file folder and all of the production documents — everything he could think of he might need — and drove across town as fast as he could. When he got to the client's office, he nervously walked in. The customer greeted him with a smile and a handshake and said, "There is no problem. I wanted to see how you would react, and now that I know, I am giving you all of our business.”

That was a $2 million annual spend.

Kindness. Acceptance. Forgiveness.

Who’s watching you?

Learn what other sales reps are doing. Find out what works and what doesn’t. Join The Sales Vault and unlock sales best practices. Go to SalesVault.pro or call Bill Farquharson at 781-934-7036