by Steve Cook
I discovered early in life that sales might be a good fit for me even though I didn’t fully understand the process. I knew I liked to talk just based on how often I was told to stop talking, and once I got an opinion on something I showed great determination in sharing my knowledge and opinions with anyone that would listen and many that I’m sure stopped well before the end of my oration. It wasn’t until much later in life that I learned that the need (some might say obsession) to tell someone everything I learned was a mild sign of ADHD and I definitely had it.
Once I became mildly entertaining, I started receiving some encouragement for my story telling. It wasn’t until I was about 15 that a teacher suggested that I take a course in public speaking. It seemed ridiculous to me that I would need to be taught how to talk but I took her advice and signed up for the course. It was there that I questioned if this was such a good move. For the first time, I was nervous or scared, or both when asked to talk. Maybe I had never before thought about what I was about to say. The teacher had me read books to elementary students and I learned that it was much more about the story than me. Who knew that I wasn’t the story. The more I worked on being a part of the story the more the kids liked it. I did voices for each character and even a little unsolicited movement or acting.
I think I developed as a pretty good story teller. Throughout high school I used those skills often. To talk my way into the starting lineup, to explain why my homework wasn’t done, to help my parents understand why me getting home past curfew wasn’t as important as my safe return and, oh yes, to get a date to the prom. I learned I could story tell my way around my very average appearance, my lack of dedication to school work, and my below average athletic skills.
Story telling ended up being the secret ingredient in my sports career. I convinced my father that he should coach the baseball team which got me significantly more playing time. I talked my way through starting a gymnastic team at my high school. Having moved to a high school that didn’t have a team, I was told that if I could find 6 other boys and a coach committed to a full season, we could have a team. I talked the 6 boys into believing that gymnastics was not only fun and a great sport but…. That chicks dig guys that can flip. I guess I talked myself into that one as well. I talked our soon-to-be coach into believing that coaching gymnastics would be easy because we would learn all we need at the local “Y” on the weekends. We didn’t win a lot, but I had my team.
I talked my way out of dentists appointments, into second helpings of desert, and staying out for one more game of wiffleball. If I couldn’t talk, I don’t think I would ever have gotten a second date. And to this day I attribute my 50 plus years of marriage to my ability to spin the best story. I definitely outkicked my coverage.
When I left college, talking became a little more important as I was in a service job, but dealing with customers. I installed equipment in gymnasiums and took great pride in how I left the gym and made friends with the customers. I was still not in sales but I learned that with a little sweet talking I could get the customers to fire off a note or post card (this was way before email) to my boss extoling my conscientious work. I also got delivery of free soda and snacks in the afternoon and one time while working at the United Nations School in New York I was given a mid afternoon bottle of warm vodka from the Russian gym teacher. One day, as I was leaving the job, I was handed a note wrapped around a 20-dollar bill – a fortune in the day, and it was that day that I learned that I could earn money talking and I decided I better look into sales.
Within a year, I left my service job to pursue a career in selling real estate. A job that had a title of salesman but no salary or benefits, just a commission if I sold something. Oh crap, I better figure out what to say. Up till then I had gotten by on a little wit and a lot of grit. But now I need to learn what to say to close the sale. Going door to door I was direct and fearless. After a few days of turn downs, I knocked on the door of a house that was doubling as a hair dressing salon. Instead of my usual opening of “have you been thinking of selling your house”, I opened with “I’m sorry I don’t need a haircut, but I need to sell a house before my next haircut is due.” It turned out that they were looking to sell the place but didn’t know where to go for a residential / commercial sale. I notified them that at our brokerage we specialized in “ResCo” sales. My broker laughed at my new term, but found a buyer for the hair salon and within my first month I had my first sale and by the way my own term “Resco” which I created on the spot. Yea, original but probably never again used until just now.
I didn’t last long at real estate sales and soon talked my way into a company that made gymnastics equipment. This job was so perfect for me that I suggested that they pull their add and cancel all other interviews because I was going to take the job, and I hadn’t yet been offered the job or had an interview. I guess you could say I was little cocky.
I got the job and selling sports equipment has suited me for a long career. Since then, I’ve read hundreds of books on selling, and have studied all the closing techniques, the features and benefits, and how to overcome objections. It’s just recently that I’ve come to understand what I’ve been doing for 40 years. I tell stories that elicit emotion and I offer options and wait for them to pick anyone of my options. Did I mention that I like telling stories? That’s why rejection, the predominant result in sales, is easier for me to absorb, because I still get to tell the story and it’s fun. Some have suggested that I’ve turned down sales just to get the opportunity to tell one more story. Yea, maybe.
Now as I am transitioning out of sales and into full time professional speaking, I have officially completed the orbit of learning. What I started doing as fallback on getting what I want is now officially “what I want”. I tell stories to make people think and if I can make them smile while I make them think all the better. For years I made a great living in sales partially because I believed in all the benefits but more likely because I loved the process. If you’re in sales, I hope you love telling stories. Come to think of it, no matter what you do or believe in take the time to tell your story. Telling stories is what connects us.
So, what’s your story?
-Steve Cook, CST (Chief Story Teller)
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