Whichever company someone works for, whatever position they hold: everyone works in sales. Whether directly or indirectly, the actions of any member of a company will lead to increased or decreased business transactions. No matter the role, from barista to a janitor, everyone is in sales. Let me give you a couple of examples of both good and bad sales people.
Let’s start with an example of someone in sales who didn’t do such a great job. I stopped at a well known nationwide coffee shop, one of the supposed stars of the industry. After waiting for what seemed like 3 hours in line I finally got up front to the barista to place my order. Problem was, I really didn’t know what I wanted. Simple solution: I asked the salesperson (the barista) what she recommended. Her response was not what I was looking for. She awkwardly replied, “The menu is on the board…” as she pointed to the 100,000,000 (probably an exaggeration) options they had for drinks. She could have recommended something liked the a grande vanilla latte with soy milk with caramel drizzle and I would have ordered it. Instead, I simply took a small coffee to go. I realize that not too many people go to a coffee shop and don’t know what they want, but they missed a chance to sell me a $7.00 drink; instead, I took a $1.50 coffee to go
So what does a good sales person (that isn’t really a salesperson) look like? I’m in California right now for a training program, and the hotel has a continental breakfast. Here in the hotel, I met an employee, a janitor/maintenance worker who is an amazing salesperson. Sitting at a table across from me was a group of people that didn’t push their chairs back in as nicely as some of the other tables’ customers did. The maintenance guy came and moved the chairs to how they should be. When I was getting up to put my plate in the collection bin and throw my trash away, he very quickly said, “No no, please, let me.” and took the plate. Is he in sales? Nope. I saw him earlier in the morning doing some work on a piece of trim on the wall that wasn’t quite right. I’ve since then seen him doing other maintenance and repair projects around the hotel, and while his job title might not say it, his actions gave an excellent example of someone being a great salesperson. Based, in part, on his actions, if I’m back in Ontario, California at some point int he future, I would have no problem staying at the Azure Hotel, and would recommend it to anyone.
The lesson here is that even if your title or your business card doesn’t say that you are in sales, you are! Whether it’s directly involved with calling customers or knocking on doors, everyone is in sales.