Everyone who has ever taken a sales training course has been taught this: Don’t pre-judge anyone. Get to know them, and without making assumptions learn who they are (and what they need and want), then sell to them accordingly.

We’ve all heard it; yet it still happens. It still happens because people are people, and we all make mistakes. So, trainers will need to keep beating that drum. I first heard that lesson in sales training before I even worked in consumer electronics: I got my start in sporting goods and did my best to remember that. I’ve made mistakes though, and we’ll get to that in a minute.

But rAVe readers don’t come here to be lectured by me, they come to hear funny stories with an object lesson, so I’ll let’s begin.

Now, most of the anecdotes we hear and tell about judgmental salespeople usually involve end-user customers. This is especially true of car dealerships. If I had a nickel for everyone I know who went to buy a new Porsche and was blown off by a salesperson who couldn’t be bothered to do their job I’d have … two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

But let me get something straight: Being judgmental doesn’t just afflict salespeople who are end-user facing; it happens on the manufacturing and distribution side. If there’s anything I have learned in my years on this side of the business, it’s that when you’re signing up new dealer accounts you never know who will be your new big customer.

I would guesstimate that over the years, if I’ve signed up five new dealers in the last quarter, most of the time the ones who I thought had the most potential upside don’t live up to that expectation, and conversely the ones who end up being superstar accounts are ones I didn’t expect it from.

As a matter of professionalism, I really try to treat all my clients the same: well. Not everyone can be your number one client, but I try to treat them all as if they are. I either answer my phone on the first ring, or if I’m tied up I get back to them right away. It’s my job to manage dealer relationships, maximizing the value they get from us, and the amount of business we get from them. And that means doing my best for everyone, whether large dealer or small.

Late in 2019, I signed up a company that had two locations. I onboarded them and got them going. Then, in late-February 2020, COVID happened, and you all know how that went: Everything went sideways. However, this small new dealer kept working away. By mid-2020 the dealer had five locations. By late 2020 they had ten.

At that point I recognized what was going on, and made sure to stay on top of them, and make myself invaluable to them in their growth efforts. So I was in contact with the founder several days a week, and ultimately his senior management team as they grew, doing my part to help.

By early 2021 they had 20 locations nationally.

It was at that point that my national director texted me, asking “Holy cow! Who ARE these guys?” Today they’re coming up on 40 locations, and I’ve been happy to share in their success.

Now that I’ve dislocated my elbow from patting myself on the back, here’s a story about me being an idiot rather than a hero. Going way back in time to when I just started, I opened up a new account with a gentleman who had just opened his business in one of the bedroom suburb towns just outside the city. I dealt with him for years, and one of his regular refrains was that business was tough going.

He eventually sold the business to someone new. I dealt with that person for several years, including through all the COVID drama. Like their predecessor, this person complained regularly about how business in that town wasn’t easy. In turn, he sold the business to a third person. I met this third person, I did my job (sorta), but to be completely honest, I expected the state of affairs to continue. So I didn’t really work that hard.

My mistake. I could not have been more wrong.

This guy was more diligent than his predecessors, more aggressive and definitely better financed. Before I knew it, he acquired the stores of five other people within a two-hour drive of his original store, and built a small regional empire of seven stores.

And, owing to my lack of vision, a competitor swooped in and earned his business. So now I have to deal with a problem I created for myself and figure out how to build a strong relationship where I only have a tenuous one.
But, as the saying goes, the expensive lessons are the only ones you actually learn.