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At times, my life on
the road representing Designer Blinds can seem pretty uneventful. Once in a while, though,
you get lucky and some sweeping revelation will find you. Probably when you’re not
looking for it and in a place you would least expect it. Such was the case for me
in this conversation I had recently one evening while having
dinner at the counter in a busy restaurant.
I was sitting there waiting for my food
and I thought I’d try to strike up a conversation with the guy
sitting next to me. I
asked him, “ So, what do you do for a living?”
“Sales.” he replied.
“Really?”
“Yep.” He said. I think he was a little
suspicious and would have just as soon left it at that.
“Well... ?” I asked.
“What?” as if he wanted to know.
“Well I've never met a salesman that
didn’t want to tell me what he sells. So what do you sell?”
“Brooms.” he said. He was big on one-word
answers.
“Brooms?” I asked, “Just brooms?!?
You make a living selling just brooms?”
“Nope.” He replied.
“Well, what else then?”
“Mops and squeegees”
A breakthrough! Three words in a row. He
was finally warming up a little.
I asked him how long he had been selling brooms, mops and
squeegees.
“Thirteen years.” he said.
Now I have to admit that I don’t know
anything at all about the brooms, mops and squeegee business. So I asked him to tell me
about his customers, “So, who do you sell to?”
“Oh, you know,” he said, “Anyone who
has a floor. Mostly to schools, small shops and businesses like
auto dealerships. You
know, stuff like that.”
At last! He’s finally talking. So I pressed for more, “So
tell me,” I asked, “Who is your competition?”
“Well, you know, things have changed a
lot over the last thirteen years that I’ve been doing this,”
he explained, “You know those big box stores? Well, it seems
they sell an awful lot of brooms. At pretty low prices, too, but
they really don’t bother me too much.”
“They don’t? Why not?” I asked.
“Because they simply can’t sell what I
have to offer.”
“Right.” I said with a more than just
a hint of sarcasm. I
never really thought about it much, but a broom is a broom, right? Now I had become the one-word reply guy.
“No, really,” he insisted, “they
can’t even come close. They
don’t have what I sell.”
“Okay, so what is it that you have that
they don’t?” I asked.
“Me.” He said, “They don’t have me.”
I was glad to hear I wouldn’t be able to
find him for sale in aisle ten of the neighborhood big box store
between a gallon jar of pickles and a six-pack of socks. Still,
his answer was interesting and I wanted to hear more.
“Quality —the very top of the
line—and ME,” He
said, “With the right customer, it’s an unbeatable
combination.”
He didn’t seem to be talking about
brooms anymore. This
was getting interesting.
He went on to say, “I sell the 'Mercedes'
of brooms. There is
not a better product anywhere. The production facility is a family
owned business that really cares about the products they make.
Better still, they really care about the people that work for
them.”
“Really?” I said, “Sounds like
you’ve got something pretty special there.”
“I do.” He said, “That's why I
bristle at the idea that they can do what I do for my customers. Get it — bristle? That’s a broom joke.”
“Pretty funny.” I said. I think I actually was beginning to get it.
Then he continued to explain that he
carried brooms for assorted surfaces. “Whether the floor is a
smooth urethane surface, a tile or a coarse concrete surface like
a road makes a lot of difference.” He sounded truly excited
about it as he explained, “Different compositions of bristles
are required for effective use on various applications. Believe it or not, brooms,
mops and squeegees are really custom specialty products —not a
one-size-fits-all kind of thing at all. I really get swept away by
it all. Get it —swept away? It's another
broom joke.”
"Yeah, I get it. You're a funny
guy," I said, but I wanted to know more, so I asked,
“Do you get a lot of repeat business? What about word-of-mouth
referrals?”
That’s the really neat thing,” he
said, “I sell such a good product that they almost never wear
out. My customers
wouldn’t even think about going somewhere else.”
“But, if you have such a great product,
that almost never wears out, how do you keep engaged with your
customer? How do you
get that repeat business? How do your customers get excited enough
about a broom to refer their friends?”
“Simple,” he answered with a really
big smile, “I put my name on the handle! I want them to remember me
—and my name. The
product almost speaks for itself. I get referral calls all of the
time. People are always looking for a really good broom. My brooms
solve their problems. Which means that I solve their problems. The trick is to get them
to remember my name the next time they need a problem
handled. Get it —handled...?”
We both said it
together, "...Another broom joke!"
I wish I could tell
you that this conversation was just as enlightening for the broom
guy, but we never got around to where I worked or what I did. We
finished our meals while we were swept up in this conversation (yes,
that’s another broom joke) and ended up going our separate ways.
Still, I'm impressed by the sweeping revelations he brought to me
over this meal. How most of what he said could be useful to people
in the window coverings business —or any other business for that
matter. He had a true
passion for what he was doing. He truly believed in his product,
enough to stake his name on it. He became the brand. He
recognized that he was in a competitive market, but chose not to
be a bottom feeder. He identified his market and positioned
himself above the competition. He makes an effort with every sale
to encourage referrals and repeat business. There's a lot to learn
from him.
The thing that
really amazes me is all of the similarities I found between our
two lines of work. How, whether its a broom, a burger, a boat, or
a blind. What really matters is the problems you solve for your
customers. It’s
important to have a great company behind you with a great support
team to make the best product. But applying that product
—whatever it is— in a memorable way to meet your customer’s
needs is what will make you successful.
So, I guess the old
saying is true: "A new broom always makes a clean sweep." But still I’d rather
sweep you off your feet with the best in window fashions.
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