How do the insights of a veteran salesman compare to our class learnings? Let’s find out.
I sat down with my dad, Jake Roberts, to gain his background in sales.
Christmas 1985. Jake is enlisted by George’s Jewelry in Meadville, PA as seasonal help for the busy holiday season. He knew nothing of sales at the time, but did have foundational knowledge on the product. By this point, he had been learning hands-on jewelry repair skills for two years under his older brother-in-law, Steve Becker. Steve was something of a cool cat in the mid 80’s, as well as an influence on Jake.
He admits that there was a learning curve in the social component of sales. “If you can sell yourself to somebody, chances are they’ll buy what you have. That’s 3/4 of the sale.” This seems to confirm our theory of buying with emotions, and justifying with intellect. Since his product knowledge was a minor end-piece to the sale, he had some studying to do. “There wasn’t any sales course around here back then. I just watched my boss do it well and took cues from him.”
I dug deeper on what cues Jake hass picked up over the years. He placed high emphasis on initial bonding & rapport. He asks where they’re from, what they’re up to, and any other relevant questions that arise. In doing so he breaks the ice, establishes their trust, and learns their pain points. Stories, both personal and third-party, are a favored stepping-stone in Jake’s sales process.
“When they come into my store, they are a guest in my home.”
What not to do in sales? “Bash your competitor,” Jake quickly answers. “We’re all trying to get a little piece of the pie, & there’s plenty of pie to go around.” Badmouthing competitors makes you, not your competitor, look bad.
Finally, I asked Jake why he sells – and this led us to a point straight out of our GCC sales course. He cooly replies that he doesn’t consider himself a salesman; rather, a helper. A serviceman. He shares that he thinks of “sales” as a tricky act of coercion, and that’s not what Roberts Jewelers is about. This pre-concieved notion is precisely what Pink touches on at the beginning of To Sell Is Human. He also mentions “upserving” towards the end – the idea of sales as a mutual exploration process where the prospect is to be served.
Jake and Pink passed on parallel sales concepts to me, therefore confirming them. If two experienced, unacquainted men in different fields on opposite sides of the world can agree on these theories, I’ll take them as fact.
robertsjewelrystore.com
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