Wednesday, February 28, 2007

My new thing; a new obsession.

I'm in sales. Software sales.

I spend 1/2 my day, either talking up visions of amazing returns of investment, unheard of customer satisfaction, seamless integration with 3rd party ODBC compliant databases blah blah blah...

I walk the high road; I don't lie; I gladly walk away from any opportunity that is clearly not a fit for us; and I am not afraid to say 'I don't know, but I'll find out and get back to you on that'. I am not a cheesy salesman.

I'm good on the phone, I really am. I say that from a business perspective:
"I give great phone."

(I also "give great demos", but that does sound nearly as funny.)

I'm someone that comes across as trust-able, like-able, and I'm really good at taking the customer's needs and helping them envision why we would be the best fit, and how our whizz-bang software is the one for them. And I must be honest, our software is clearly better than our competition. Sure we're more expensive than the crap what they use today, but once they see a demo, all my promises become reality. ( Again, I'm not a cheesy salesman.)

The other 1/2 is spent typing up memorable thank you or follow-up emails to my demos, my phone conversations etc. Yes, you guessed it: "I give great email."

The last 1/4 of my day is spent typing up proposals with pricing options, overviews of the different Modules or Options I recommend that they consider, etc.

Any way, I need to get to the point here. I'm becoming addicted to the ";". (Yes, the ";" is also known as semi-colon.) My problem is, I think I had meningitis, or typhoid or a bad hair cut or something the week that they went over the use of ";" in my school; I'm not even sure what year we you were taught to use it.
The point is, I think I'm using it way too much, and I'm probably using it incorrectly; but I just chalk it up as part of my 'salesman charm'.

(This post was terrible; a big giant ugly. And yes, for those of you that noticed it:
1/2 + 1/2 + 1/4 = 1.
Especially when you're really busy at work; at least that's what management has made me believe; or; at least in sales it does.)

6 comments:

Erin said...

I'll teach you how to use ";" - you're right, you're not using it correctly.

Knock knock, who's there? Trick or Treat... charming salesman obsessed with semicolons.

Ron B. said...

Wow, after the first few paragraphs; I was ready to buy a "Wiley" for all of my software sales needs; splash.

Lulu said...

I hope Panther doesn't read your blog - he will be devastated to know what you sell.

I seem to have two obsessions:

1. Overuse of the '!' I swear I would end every sentence with ! if I didn't stop myself. I guess I am just excitable.

2. Starting sentences with the word 'And'. My boss hates it but I have explained to him several times that it is actually ok to start with the word 'and'. And I also like to explain to him how much smarted I am than him in general so he should not doubt my grammar.

Buzz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Buzz said...

Wiley, the salesman that gives 125% everyday;;;!!

Tiffany said...

There are no lies in software sales. Everything is on the "product road map" at some point. I am sure you lie out your teeth! :)