Many retailers make the same mistake we’ve made. Staff training consists of talking a lot about product-the process behind rotational molding, how much rocker a canoe has, what “800-fill down” means. That goes on for awhile, we give a few hours on the basics of customer service and sales, and let ‘em go sell product. The quality of the relationship between the customer and the staff is not considered as important as the staff knowing the different weights of Cordura used in a PFD and the chemical composition of Gaia foam.


Some of the folks we hire make the same mistake. They feel that credibility comes from product knowledge and personal experience. While a certain amount of product knowledge is definitely necessary, and personal experience with the product is also necessary, the ability to connect with someone on a personal level is far more important.


What I try to remember and instill into our staff is that the most important person in the relationship is the customer, not you, and that establishing credibility is all about putting yourself in the customer’s position. Tragically hip employees who can only talk about themselves and their experiences (mostly irrelevant to the customer’s needs) have little or no success selling-they actually scare customers away. Just what you want in a retail setting: the Department of Sales Prevention.


I’ve noticed that some sales reps do the same thing. Their clinics are all about the technical aspects of a product line-the transverse-diagonal-obtusity of the cut allows for maximum defenestration. Someone wake me when it’s over so I can have my clinic pro-deal form and get outta here.


Again, I am not at all suggesting that a rep not know his or her product line cold. I’m suggesting that a little information is often more than enough, and that the majority of the energy should be spent on making three or four good points, telling the staff how that relates to the customer, and then spending most of the time fostering a more-than-superficial relationship. That way, the staff will actually believe what was taught during the clinic.


So here’s the takeaway: The most successful sales reps in our store know the names of our sales staff without looking at their name badges. The reason they know their names is because they enjoy these relationships, and they work hard to foster and nurture those relationships. Of course, they know their buyer and the owner-what rep wouldn’t?


Here’s the other takeaway: Owners are not all that important. Sure, be cordial to us and schwag us a pair of socks now and then, but if you want to grow your lines in our shop, you might talk to the folks who actually sell your product everyday.


There is a sales rep, one of the principals in his agency, who lives within a few miles of both my home and my shop. Let’s call him Rep A. We sell two of his lines, quite good ones, the sort of bread-and-butter lines that most reps would kill for. In the past three years, I have not once seen his face in the store. No clinics, no phone calls, nothing. We deal directly with the vendor, submit POs and everything directly to our internal CSR. We work very closely with the manufacturers and we enjoy that relationship.


This rep collects commissions for everything we sell here.


There is another sales rep, Rep B, who reps many lines I do not carry. They’re good lines, but we just don’t have room right now for them, and some of them really don’t make sense for us. She lives in another time zone and makes zero money from our business, yet a month does not pass when I do not get a phone call asking about me, my family and my business; and asking with all sincerity if there’s anything she can do. When she drives through the state she always stops. Usually, we end up eating dinner together and arm-wrestling for the check. While she would like to do business with us, it’s clear that what she values is the relationship and, hopefully, the business will follow.


I’d like to say this is not business as usual. Sadly, it is. This is not to say that we do not have many excellent reps who do an excellent job for us. Indeed, most of the reps we work with are very competent. They understand that the value of the relationship transcends everything else.


The karmic wheel of business turns slowly, but turn it does. I can guarantee that within five years, Rep B will have (hopefully) Rep A’s lines. That’s because Rep B understands it’s not about the stuff, it’s about the relationships.


Besides, who can’t use more friends in this world?