Most people love this legendary sit-com TV show because of how funny it is and relatable the characters are. However not everyone looks at this show as an opportunity to learn and take what happens in the workplace (‘The Office’) and apply it in a practical sense. There are so many scenes centered around sales, but the one I am focusing on is when Michael and Jan meet with a client at Chili’s. Jan comes into the meeting with one thing on her mind and that was straight business, she wanted to talk numbers and figure out how to make the sale right away. Jan wastes no time and asks the client what their bottom line is a little to quickly but Michael buts in and inttrupts the conversation to talk about the food. At first we might take this as unprofessional or rude but actually Michael was saving the sale, because Jan was moving to fast. Michael then proceeds to become more comfortable with the client and build a relationship with them for a good while it seems. To Jan this is outputting and looks like a big waste of their time but what michael is really doing is showing the client that he cares about them and about what they have to say. Now this tactic doesn’t always work because their may be an limited amount of time you have with someone, but in this case the client says, “I have time” and therefore Michael is able to further create a bond between the two parties. Towards the end of the meeting during their casual conversation Michael gets around to the topic at hand without asking the client specific questions about making a sale. Then the client on their own discloses that he would like to work with them and give them their business. We can take so many pointers from this scene and apply it to when we are trying to make sales. Although I think the most important point is that we need to build rapport and a relationship with our clients to make them feel comfortable and show them how much we care about them, not just another sale.
BoweryJE22