You Better Have a Warrant

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

"You Better Have a Warrant"

The topic of this blog is about "Dressing for Success" and is based on a true story about one of my first sales calls.

At the end of October 1981 after 3 months straight of training with AT&T, I was out in the field and ready to finally see customers. These were the last couple of years of the traditional AT&T Bell System, and the divestiture of AT&T was already being planned. I was part of the "new" AT&T sales force which would operate in the competitive post-divestiture environment.

The new AT&T employees were indoctrinated to a very formal training process that rivaled companies such as IBM and Xerox. On our first day, we were given the book "Dress for Success" and instructed to use this information to create our wardrobe. The corporate dress code in 1981 Phoenix was primarily "business casual". It was rare to witness someone dressed in a suit and tie; especially during the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

After completing my training, I reported to my office on Phoenix's Central Avenue in my navy blue suit with a solid white long sleeve dress shirt (I don't recall the color of my tie, but would be willing to bet it was red). My assigned territory was the lodging/hospitality market, and I had scheduled an appointment with one of my new accounts. These were exciting times, and after 3 months of training I was glad to be out in the field. Instead of driving our own cars for our business appointments, we used vehicles from the Mountain Bell Motor Pool. The car I was assigned was a mid 1970's Dodge Coronet (a popular car model of police departments at the time). The Mountain Bell logos on the doors were faded, and the 4-door white car was also equipped with spot lights, simple hub caps, and black-wall tires.

The account I was visiting was located on Van Buren St (the "red light" district of the city). As I pulled into the parking lot of the motel, people started scattering and I wondered what was going on. I got out the car, put on my suit jacket and walked in the front door. Some additional "guests" made a quick exit as I approached the registration desk. The motel manager, wearing a tank-top style t-shirt and shorts, quickly walked up to the desk as I was taking off my sun glasses and said, "This time you better have a warrant". I was stunned by this comment and responded by saying, "Sir, I'm from the phone company, and…". The angry manager cut me off said, "You’re not a cop… so get the #$&% out!"

I was devastated as I returned to my office. My manager and some of the veteran Account Executives had a hard time containing their laughter when they heard my story. I thought I was set-up and this was some sort of rookie hazing. It wasn't. I was one of three Account Executives assigned to the Lodging market and had a variety of property types ranging from the Van Buren motels to some of the larger resorts in the valley. Our directive was to dress in business attire (suit and tie) for all sales calls. This worked fine for the business hotels and resorts, but I still had a number of lodging properties where this attire wouldn't work. It took me over 2 weeks to get special approval to "dress down" to visit the balance of my accounts.

Finally, approval came and I dressed in a Mountain Bell polo-style shirt and business casual slacks. At the motor pool, I picked up an AMC Gremlin (hardly confused with a police car) and returned to the motel where I was asked to leave. This time, no guests scattered as I entered the property. I introduced myself to the manager who was dressed about the same as he had been the last time we "met". After we both apologized to each other about the event from a couple of weeks back, we had a great business conversation. Within a week from that point, I closed the sale.

Bottom line: I suggest working to find a balance between respect for the customer's comfort level and the image you are portraying as a representative of your company. This is a major factor in building business relationships.

Have a great sales week!

Comments

[SalesCooke]

Great story, Mike. I had similar experience in NYC when I scattered a bunch of employees in a plant because they thought I was with INS. Love it!