Bill Condron (Granite Group), Guest Speaker 11/10/11

Bill’s presentation was entertaining and really informative. It was clear he loves what he does, and I thought it was nice that he put it out there that we are going to change our minds, and even if we think we know what we want now, that may not be the case. The three biggest things I took away from Bill’s presentation was 1) to love your job, or find a job you love, 2) relationship selling and 3) there isn’t just one way to successfully sell a product.

            Guest speakers we’ve had have always said how much they loved their job, but Bill really showed us his true passion. He seemed excited to talk about his company and his employees. Even though he really didn’t want to work for his family business when he was younger, he found through his journey that he wasn’t happy to have the glitz & glamour life. It was very clear and obvious to me about how much he truly enjoys his career, and it showed me that it’s okay to be happy about whatever job you have, as long as you do it right and you work hard.

            Bill said his two top sellers are successful because of their ability to build relationships. He also said it isn’t necessarily about selling the product, but rather relationship selling. Anyone could sell a toilet, but you’ll continue getting your customers back as well as new customers, if you build the proper relationship and show them that its about them, not the company. We spend so much time on objection handling and preparing presentations for a single product, that the rapport and relationship gets pushed to the back burner. I think we’d all find a successful sales call to go significantly better if we spent more time on the customer, and seeing exactly what they want before we start pushing products on them.

            Throughout these two classes, we’ve focused on one way to sell a product, using the 5 core concepts of selling or using SPIN. Bill said his top two sellers are both at the top because they are successful at selling their company’s products, but they both have completely different styles of selling. One is constantly working on building a relationship with is clients, and once he gets that he moves onto another client. The other top seller works tirelessly on all his clients, and focuses on the people who need his support. While both sellers are building the relationship, they have different approaches that seem to work.

Written by Jennifer Lamson, student in Professional Selling Skills II