Sales Lessons from Tanya Huff and Mark S A Smith

Tanya Huff I subscribe to several newsletters, blogs and such of sales tips and inspiration (of course!)  And I often find different variations, twists and different takes on my own perceptions of sales.  This is the case with a recent article that I read by Mark S A Smith, who writes quite a bit on the sales industry.  His "Being a Sales Professional: 3 Weird Mistakes That Make Sales Pros Look Like Amateurs (Is This You?)" includes the mistakes of Complaining and Making Excuses, and brought to mind Sales Lesson #16 from the Handbook of Sales and Science Fiction, drawn from the Valor military sci-fi series by Canadian author Tanya Huff.

You can find Smith's article at http://ezinearticles.com/?Being-a-Sales-Professional:-3-Weird-Mistakes-That-Make-Sales-Pros-Look-Like-Amateurs-(Is-This-You?)&id=6934752, or access more of his work at his blog at http://marksasmith.com/

Sales Lesson #16 from Rugg's Handbook of Sales and Science Fiction is included below in its entirety.




Lesson 16

The Sci-Fi:  Valor’s Choice.  Novel by Tanya Huff.


The Sci-fi Sitch:  Staff Sgt. Torin Kerr’s combat-hardened platoon and their new, green second looey have been sent to babysit a diplomatic mission, the delegates of which are trying to convince a new and unaligned alien race (human-sized martial lizards) to join the good guys of the universe-- the Confederation--  instead of the baddies-- the Others.  The differences between the enlisted Marines, the officers, and the diplomats notwithstanding, Staff closes ranks throughout the story in defense of the Marines, of the Confederation, and of humans.  This philosophy of sticking together, of group loyalty (even when faced with evidence that her superiors set Staff and her troops up to be ambushed and slaughtered), ultimately saves the day, the diplomatic mission, and by implication, the future of the Confederation.

The Sales Sitch:  Like the staff sergeant, even when you feel that the company is treating you badly, you can’t badmouth it in public.  Even if there is a devastating situation that is your manager’s fault, or even comes from higher up the food chain, make sure not to complain to clients, prospects, or anyone else outside your organization.  If you air your grievances about the higher-ups in public, it makes it look as if you are trying to shift blame and weasel out of responsibility.  And if, the prospect wonders, the rep will shift blame off of herself or himself onto the company, might they not also, in certain situations, try to shift blame for a problem onto a client?  Why would a client want to work with someone who might, when the chips are down, try to blame the client for a sales rep error?  Or even if you have a great relationship with the prospect or client, and they know/believe you that the responsibility for the problems lies with the corporate brass, and not with you, well then, why would they really want to do business with an organization that has such incompetence in its chain of command?

The Sales and Sci-Fi Lesson:  Don’t badmouth the company- you have more to lose than to gain by blaming management or other people in your organization for problems or errors.

The Sci-Fi Skinny:  Tanya Huff (Canadian writer, b. 1957) is known for her several fantasy series more than she is for her one Sci-Fi series, but her military science-fiction series, the Valor Confederation, rings pretty true to my ear (I do have some military experience.  Not tons, but some).  Valor’s Choice was published in 2000, and was included in an omnibus collection in 2006, A Confederation of Valor, which included the first two novels of the series, Valor’s Choice and The Better Part of Valor, the latter of which was published in 2002.