I have an admission that – at least to those who know me – won’t exactly come as a surprise: I am a bit of a nerd. To be certain, I enjoy a lot of traditional non-nerdy things like sports, dining out, and spending time with my family. However, there is a part of me that has always gravitated towards the works of Shakespeare which, some have suggested, is a particularly nerdy endeavor.
My affinity for the famous playwright began in high school English class where I first uncovered the flawlessly brilliant prose woven into dialogue, soliloquies, and character exchange. Where my classmates were hopelessly disinterested in the lives of Hamlet, Othello, and King Henry, I was enthralled. Within each comedy or drama, there was always a character that I seemed to enjoy more than the others. One such character – who happened to be a recurring one – was that of Falstaff.
Sir John Falstaff was a bragging, bulbous, and ultimately, cowardly knight who appears in three of Shakespeare’s plays as a primarily comic figure. While his appearances were brief, his impact was lasting as the world still uses many of Falstaff’s words to this day. My personal favorite is, “the better part of valor is discretion,” which is often quoted as “discretion is the better part of valor.” Even at a young age, I felt the inherent truth in the statement and how it genuinely applied to everyday life.
This really hits the target when applied to sales. When describing the ideal qualities of a salesperson, words such as “tenacious,” “persistent,” and “determined” are often used. While these are seemingly fantastic, if not ideal, elements of a successful salesperson, it’s strictly one dimensional. Every salesperson has encountered countless situations where a sale simply was not going to be made regardless of persistence or tenacity. The fact is that no amount of sales calls, spec samples, slick literature, or marketing materials will persuade some potential clients.
Perhaps the prospect doesn’t have the budget, wasn’t able to see the value in the product/service, or simply didn’t like the person trying to make the sale. The reason is not as important as the realization that despite any amount dogged determination, some prospects just will not buy from you. This is where the wisdom of Falstaff’s famous quote comes into play for the salesperson: to truly succeed, there must be a realization that even though every prospect likely buys promotional merchandise, not every prospect will buy from you.
Make no mistake, knowing when to fold the proverbial sales tent and move on to the next process is much more an art than a science. However, it’s an art that must be practiced to protect the most important resource: time. In sales, sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, for there is no honor wasting time and energy to convince a prospect that either can’t or won’t buy when there are others who will.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 17 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. In 2014, he launched brandivate – the first executive outsourcing company solely focused on helping small and medium sized-promotional products enterprises responsibly grow their business. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, president of the Promotional Products Association of the Mid-South (PPAMS), and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, developing operational policies and procedures, creating and developing winning RFP responses, and presenting winning promotional products solutions to Fortune 500 clients. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.