Be careful with politics on sales calls

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

Be careful with politics on sales calls

As we are in the home stretch of the elections, I thought it's time for a reminder that political opinions and conversations should have no place in your sales conversations. These very personal issues can create tension between you and your customer and may possibly derail your sales efforts.

You have probably already experienced some situations where you have had to decide on the correct approach or response. Let's discuss a few examples:

You've called upon your client and noticed campaign literature in the office. There's a possibility it may not be their personal work area, or their personal view. Avoid this conversation.

You received a political e-mail (you may have agreed or disagreed with the content). My advice is to not comment and keep your personal political views to yourself. As an additional note - don't forward these controversial messages to others (in or out of your business circle) from your business e-mail address.

You considered placing a bumper sticker on your car supporting your candidate. If your vehicle is used for or during company business, you run the risk of alienating your customers – my recommendation is "just don't go there".

Elections and politics in general can create situations that may be uncomfortable for you and your clients. While on sales calls, stay on your business topic and focus on helping people by solving their business problems and fulfilling their business needs. I recognize that successful sellers concentrate on relationship building – but focus on the specifics of their business (and avoid politics).

Mike's Upcoming Sales Skills Workshops for October

1. Sales Skills 201: Creating Effective Sales Collateral, Creating Customer Loyalty and Preparing a Professional Presentation

Date/Time: Friday, October 3, 2008 from 8:30am – 11:30am

Location: Arizona Small Business Association at 4130 E. Van Buren St, Ste 150 - Phx

Investment: ASBA Members - $59.00 or Non-members - $69.00

Register today at 602-265-4563 or rsvp@asba.com.

2. Creating Your Effective Networking Commercial!

After learning some tips to develop an effective 30-second networking commercial, we will work on your specific message. Your opening statement will create customer interest and assist you with developing networking relationships that are critical to your business development.

Date/Time: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 from 10:30am – 12:00pm

Location: Arizona Small Business Association at 4130 E. Van Buren St, Ste 150 - Phx

Investment: ASBA Members - $30 or Non-members - $40

Register today at 602-265-4563 or rsvp@asba.com.

Have a great sales week!

Comments

[Sales Cooke]

Good call Mike. As they say be careful when you talk religion or politics. I have seen many deals go south when a poor choice of words are applied to sensitive subjects.

[Ted Cook]

I have a long term relationship as both a customer of and supplier to a salesperson I'll call Sally. Sally recently brought up politics during a call. She began by asking what my party affiliation was, and then proceeded to inform me that the owner of her company (her mentor) had stated to their sales force that "if they were even considering voting for Candidate X, they may as well leave the company now."

While I controlled my anger, I was livid that a) Sally had shared this with me under the presumption that it would impact my vote to hear her mentor's opinion on the election, and b) that the owner of a company would threaten his employees in this way.

I'm sure this kind of corporate political pressure happens often, and I may be naive to think that it shouldn't. I know I had a visceral reaction to it, not because of the political view expressed, but simply because, in my world, it is wrong.

I love a lively political discussion, but politics in the office, as well as on sales calls, can be highly inappropriate.

[Wes Hopper]

Mike, I think you're absolutely correct. Politics, especially in an election season, divides, it doesn't unite. One can discuss how issues relate to business and so forth, but anything more is generally inappropriate. In my business I work at stamping out "us vs them" thinking as it is personally and socially destructive, so partisan politics would be way out of integrity for me.