One day I walked into sales class and thought Professor Sweet shaved his head, but then I realized we were having a guest speaker! Dan spoke to us twice, the first time he talked about upfront contracts, which stuck out to me. His method was very straight forward and prevented any awkwardness later down the road in the conversation. I used his upfront contract technique in my sales conversation, and it was very useful. It seemed to clarify a lot about the meeting in a respectful, mutually beneficial way. Another interesting thing about Dan is that he warns against handshakes. Honestly, I think this may be a personal preference for him, and may not apply to everyone. Handshakes make him uncomfortable, so he never initiates one. He called us to consider doing the same thing. This made me think a lot, and while I will probably not discontinue initiating handshakes, especially in a professional setting, it did make me think about considering the other person in a conversation. I see a handshake as a sign of respect, and honestly, it was really awkward when a student went down to have a pretend sales conversation with him and there was a lack of greeting. It just felt like an unnecessary unsettling moment that could be filled with a commonly accepted social norm like shaking hands. I truly enjoyed hearing Dan come talk about his sales experiences.
BoweryJE22
I had never heard about an upfront contract before Dan spoke to us, but it definitely stood out to me as well! I recently used this when I had a meeting about wedding planning the other day and wanted to ensure I was being respectful of the clients time but also my own time. I also agree that I think handshakes are a sign of professionalism in the business world, and it definitely made me uncomfortable to watch there be no sign of greeting when that sales conversation began.