Be Different!

I recently spoke with a college that did something very unusual, daring, and, different in order to win over a large multi-million dollar account. This is inspiring, but also shows a good example of how we all might try more to think a little outside of the box, when approaching business.

The gig was selling credit card processing software to a large company that had many subsidiaries. A meeting was scheduled with this large sporting goods company to introduce them to a new product that they hopefully would buy. During the meeting it was revealed that the sales person had no knowledge of sports. The first word out of the Vice President mouth was, "What do you think about the Avalanche (the Denver hockey team that won the Stanley Cup)?" Now, the sales person could have lied covering up their ignorance about the hottest sports story in the state, but they decided to take the higher road and be completely honest. Instead the salesman said "What's the Avalanche?" of course the sporting goods representative said, in a rather dumbfounded tone, "You want our account, but you don't know anything about sports? That's what we do around her is sell sporting goods." Then on top of what seemed to have made a bad day worse the sales person forgot to look at their current system, something the VIP specifically asked that he do.

At this point I know your thinking that this sales meeting was a total bust, right? On the contrary the next business day, the sales person returned and turned his seemingly somewhat faux pas into a strength that would hopefully win them over. That next day they returned back to the corporate office, and there stood in head to toe Avalanche hockey gear, pads, helmet, and mouthpiece! In a playful tone the sales person exclaimed, "I was on my way to practice and I thought I would stop by and take a look at your system." Well, needless to say, once the VP saw this , he burst out laughing and was pleasantly amused. He was extremely touched by the fact that the sales person had "gone that extra mile." It made his entire day. Everyone was impressed.

So, I know your asking yourself, what is the moral to this story. In general, people are impressed by those individuals who take risks, make the efforts to extend themselves, even in the face of adversity.

So, the challenge here is ... what can you do to be different, to extend yourself beyond your typical way of doing business? It's found through self exploration and your ability to evaluate every situation and determine the opportunities to make things a win. No matter what the kind of business, note finding etc. You can sometime always turn a pile of potential lemons into lemonade.

Never be afraid to think out side of the box. Sometimes, it may not always work, but most times your innovative spirit is noted, appreciated, and people do take, pardon the pun "note!'