Ten Sales Lessons from the Campground

by John Carroll

Family vacations attract a great deal of attention and enthusiasm from all four members of our family. As a result, when Lori, my wife, suggested that we use campgrounds for our base of operations and sleeping accommodations, we received mixed reviews. Lori and Jodye, our younger daughter, were all for it, while Erynn, our firstborn, and I were more subdued. After all, I reasoned, my idea of roughing it is having to get up poolside and walk to where I get my next cold drink.

Well, you win some and you lose some, so when we were unable to reserve a rental camper for a trip we had planned, we decided to purchase our very own pop-up tent camper. I had hoped that we would buy and use the camper one time and then sell it to some true outdoor-type family so that we could get back to staying in hotels. As you may have guessed, the reselling idea went by the wayside and we’re still the owners of a pop-up tent camper. After taking several trips with the camper, I’ve gleaned some lessons that apply to selling.

1. Plan your trip – This certainly applies to any trip, leisure or otherwise. When you’re camping, however, you plan a bit differently to accommodate the special needs of pulling your bedroom, kitchen and lounging area behind you as you drive down the road. Reservations, camper and vehicle maintenance all need to happen before departure time. We also check and reserve admission for places of interest ahead of time.

Planning your trip in selling means that you have an idea of your ideal outcome for the overall sales process as well as the next contact with your prospect, client or customer. Many a sales professional shows up every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. on the doorstep of a particular customer with a greeting of “What’s new?” and “What can I order for you today?” If we’re only thinking as far as the customer is about applying our product or service to his or her problems, challenges and opportunities, we’re selling both the customer and ourselves short. The first step in delivering value is knowing where that value is in the eyes of the customer and tying that value to something our product or service can deliver. Plan your trip by knowing your objective for each sales contact and the steps you’ll need to take to reach that objective.

2. Pack properly – Hotels have bed linens and towels. Campers have neither until they’re packed for the journey. Don’t forget the insect repellent, the charcoal, the toolbox for those expected and unexpected mechanical difficulties and the duct tape to save the day.

Packing properly for selling requires checking a conscious and deliberate checking of your materials and anything you need to have with you when you’re in front of the next prospect or customer. For many of my sales calls, I simply need paper and pen to takes notes on our interview. For others, I need a complete proposal and back up information to help the prospect or client make a decision. Because a sale is based so heavily on trust and our credibility in selling is tied directly to building that trust, any item we have left behind for our selling opportunity detracts from our credibility and can lower a buyer’s confidence in us. Rather than rushing out the door to that next appointment, stop and make a list of all the items you’ll need to make your next sale.

3. Know your limits – On a recent spring vacation, we were heading down the highway, anticipating warm weather near a beach we hadn’t yet visited when there was a loud noise and a humming sound that came from the engine compartment. We were able to limp off the highway to a mechanic who confirmed a problem with the transmission. When I called the dealer who had given me a pre-trip inspection of the vehicle, he asked if we had a special added feature that helped the vehicle pull the extra weight of the camper without damaging the engine and transmission. He confirmed that we had likely exceeded the vehicle’s capacity without that added feature, resulting in the mechanical failure. We lost nearly 24 hours of vacation time, added 400 miles to the trip by returning home for another vehicle and paid $4,000 for the repair caused by that single bit of ignorance.

Knowing your limits in selling means that you understand what your product, service or support team can and cannot do and you work within those parameters. Remember this mantra: under-promise and over-deliver. Commit to something only if you know you can, never commit to something that you know is next to impossible and say you don’t know the answer if that’s the case. Once again, your credibility is on the line. You build trust with your follow through. If yours is less than stellar, get on the ball and make improvement in this area a top priority. Working beyond your limits or beyond those of your team or organization can result in some short-term successes and some long-term problems for you, your customer and your team. Just think of all the explaining you won’t have to do with your team when you make fulfillment promises that fall well within established deadlines and lead times.

4. Be ready to explore – Camping involves a certain amount of willingness to play the part of Lewis and Clark. You follow the directions as best you can in locating the campground and your assigned spot. Then you scout your location for critical landmarks such as restroom/showers, pool and game room and any other features of this particular destination.

In selling, being ready to explore means having your questions prepared in advance. You don’t necessarily know all the answers; you’re simply armed with the best questions so that the answers are both relevant and valuable to help you further the sale. Make it your goal to be so skilled at questioning that you can get critical information from your prospect or customer in a minimal amount of time. By doing so, you also have the time for any small talk that precedes or follows the business discussion. Know what you’re looking for and ask the questions that are most likely to get you there.

5. Expect the unexpected – Some campgrounds feature level campsites that allow the visitor to pull in, unpack and set up with little else required. The campsites we get most often are those that require some creative leveling. This process of putting the camper on a solid, level base can involve virtually any solid, inanimate object with a relatively flat surface.

Expecting the unexpected in selling means that you may occasionally find yourself in unfamiliar territory with a challenge directly facing you. The challenge may be a service issue requiring resolution before the sales conversation proceeds. In such situations, use the valuable selling tools of listening and empathy to understand fully what has taken place and what your client or customer believes will resolve the issue. Refrain from interrupting or becoming defensive; instead, listen with an open mind, commit to addressing the situation and set a time to respond with the steps to be taken for resolution. Only with this solid and level base will you get the opportunity to move forward with a sales conversation.

6. Observe quiet time – I was raised in the city, so I learned at an early age to speak up if I wanted to be heard above the din of my surroundings. I was perfectly used to cars buzzing by, horns blowing, trolleys passing and construction and city workers using their tools to get the job done. I’ve learned that sounds and voices in campgrounds travel very easily and even the slightest sound from a distance seems as if it may have come from a few feet away. This is especially true as nighttime sets in and the campground’s quiet period begins.

Observing quiet time in selling means knowing when to close one’s mouth and listen to learn. Asking good questions is only part of the equation for a sales professional. You can ask the world’s greatest sales questions, but unless and until you listen quietly and patiently for the answers, you have neither added to nor realized any value from the conversation. One of the most valuable lessons I’ve gained from my mentor Alan Weiss is the advice to make the first meeting all about your prospect and his/her ideal outcomes. Even an invitation from your prospect to tell a little about yourself, says Weiss, can turn right back into focusing on the prospect’s situation. Don’t fall into the trap of making your first meeting a dog and pony show of your company’s capabilities. Ask and listen closely to give your prospect the greatest chance of telling you what you’ll need to know and do to earn the business.

7. Enjoy walking – My wife says it takes the first three days or so of a family trip for me to relax enough to begin actually enjoying the time away. I’ve found that by walking, either around the campground or exploring a nearby attraction, I can begin to gear down and get into the proper speed for greater enjoyment of the destination.

In selling, you learn to enjoy the walking when you pace yourself to match the speed of your prospect or customer. Most sales professionals have found themselves in situations where things were moving much more slowly than they would prefer. Remind yourself that any decision to be made is likely to be done in the prospect’s time rather than your own. You can certainly direct questions and statements to maintain focus on the issues at hand; however, you’re likely to become frustrated when you try to move the decision along more quickly than the comfort level of the prospect will allow. The greater risk here is that you turn off the prospect who feels he or she is being pressured to make a decision, raising a question of how worthy you are of his or her trust.

You and your prospect always have a choice. You can simply walk away and remain in periodic contact until such a time as the prospect is ready to decide in your favor. You can also choose to allow the prospect to contact you if and when he or she feels a need to take advantage of the value you offer. Your prospect can choose to delay the decision until the desire to improve with the help of your product or service sufficiently exceeds the fear that the prospect might be making a mistake.

8. Be gracious – With temporary neighbors all around us, I find camping to be a test site for manners. From respecting quiet hours to being mindful of shower time when others are waiting, the campground provides many opportunities for its temporary residents to be gracious to one another. As Alan Weiss has said, being gracious is primarily a matter of consciousness of the world around us. The greater the consciousness, the more likely it is that we’ll extend a kindness or step aside to allow another to move ahead.

Being gracious in selling is all about a consciousness of service. When you peel away all the layers of the onion in selling, what you’re left with is an opportunity to serve. To the degree that we intend to serve with whatever we sell, we keep our focus right where it belongs. In this way, a mindset of servant selling helps us to maintain a level of professionalism that comes with putting the prospect’s concerns ahead of the sale. I tell prospects time and again that I’ll be glad to discuss their needs and consider how I may be able to help them. In the very next breath, I tell them that if I’m not the ideal supplier of what they need, I’ll work to find another provider who can help. When we have a sincere focus on service and adding value, word will spread and the sales will come.

9. Be where you are – I have somewhat grudgingly conceded that there are elements of camping that I enjoy. There was the sunny summer morning when I arose early and sat outside, listening to the sound of the small stream running alongside our campsite. For those moments, no work was stacking up on my desk, no phone calls needed to be returned and no schedules were causing me to think ahead. I was simply able, as one of my colleagues says, to “be here now.”

Being where you are in selling means that you have complete and total focus on the prospect and his or her needs, wants and concerns. You’re not jumping ahead and wondering whether you’ll get this sale. You’re not thinking that you need to leave shortly to pick up a child or your laundry. For this moment, you’re not concerned about hitting your month, your quarter or your annual sales target. There will be times for each of those concerns in your life. When in front of your prospect, be about the business of helping this person to reach an objective of importance to him or her.

10. Find the good – It would be easy for me to make life miserable for myself and those around me by deciding that I sincerely dislike camping in every aspect. I could list dozens of things that irritate me, including the fact that I have yet to set up or put away the camper without incurring some sort of cut or gash on a hand, arm or knee. Sharing bathrooms with complete strangers could easily make my “10 Least Favorite Things to Do” list. I have learned, however, that by looking for and finding the good in camping, there are things that I can truly enjoy and others that, at the very least, count as small adventures within the greater adventure of the trip.

Finding the good in selling means that with every selling experience, with every customer or prospect contact, there’s a positive outcome or lesson that can and will benefit the true sales professional. In a time of economic turbulence when few of your prospects or customers seem to be buying, you now have time to enrich those customer relationships that have been and will continue to be important to your success. Focus on those people and accounts and spend time with them, even when you know it means no immediate rewards in terms of additional sales. The good comes from the opportunity to show that you care when it’s obvious that no short-term sales will come from your efforts.

Check the terrain of your own “selling ground” and make the most of what’s in front of you right now. Your ability to take advantage of certain situations and roll with the punches of others will go a long way toward determining your success and achievement as a sales professional.

John Carroll helps organizations and executives play to win the game of business. His book Sales Illustrated: 68 Sales Lessons from Everyday Life will soon be available in Portuguese. You can reach him at 1-877-755-8844 and via e-mail at john@johncarroll.com or visit his web site at www.uperform.com