This is one of the cartoons I drew for Dennis O’Neil’s book, “Sales Actualizationâ€.
Dennis’ thesis is that too many sales people get stuck into just doing sales facilitation, i.e. they sell the same way a gumball machine sells gumballs: Somebody gives them money, they dispense the product, and that’s about it.
The trouble with that model, of course, is that thanks to the Internet, every gumball machine IN THE WORLD is now just one mouse click away. So if that’s your model, you’re basically just one drop in an ocean of gumball machines (apologies for the mixed metaphor).
Like the cartoon says, it’s a career killer, like it or not. And that’s no way to live.
The gumball metaphor is Dennis’, not mine. I think it works well.
So, this image is really about how do you enrich your sales strategy? How do you become more valuable to your customer? How do you add to the information/value you provide so your customer sees the benefit from your interaction?
This one is for the sales office - as a reminder that you're not there just to take orders :)
