The hilarious and widely popular sitcom The Office, in which the famous character, Michael Scott, manages the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company features several different personalities that demonstrate extreme versions of stereotypical salesperson attributes. One of the most popular of these, is the character, Dwight Schrute. While Dwight is known for his beet-farming capabilities and Battlestar Galactica obsession, his strong passion for making sales is also evident in the show. The question is, “Is Dwight Schrute a good salesman?”.
Dwight Schrute goes into sales interactions very confidently and prepared. Neither of these approaches are necessarily bad, as the seller should have a strong knowledge of what they can provide and how they will go about selling to the prospect. However, Dwight commonly misses a key part of effective selling, shutting up and listening. In several of his featured sales scenes, Dwight wastes no time getting to what he wants to offer. He quite literally bypasses any relationship and trust-building techniques as they don’t appear to be necessary to him. For example, when the office ladies try to help Dwight prepare for a sales interaction with a woman, he practices by standing up, starting his timer, and projecting to the prospect what he thinks they need and what they should do. This crosses the line of confidence and enters the dangerous realm of forceful and pushy sales. It’s understandable to be excited to share information about your products and services, however, what’s the point in sharing when you don’t even know if the client/customer cares. The person might only care about one small feature or detail, and rambling about every possible positive aspect of your business will only drown out the one or two things the prospect is focused on. This is why taking the time in the beginning to ask effective questions will actually save you time in the long run, as you’re establishing their focus and will better be able to target your offer to them.
Therefore, while Dwight definitely has the right drive, ambition, and passion that a salesperson should hold, perhaps his sales approach could be more relationship-based and question-oriented (even though his “Dwight way” of selling sure is entertaining for television).
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