Bigfoot is alive and well living near Jackson Hole! Do you see him? You can clearly see the shadow of Bigfoot in the background of this picture I snapped during a recent trip to Wyoming. My Bigfoot sighting created plenty of chatter during the remainder of my vacation. What a great souvenir: photographic gold and some ideas on how the big guy could help some of the sales organizations I work with.
5 things we can learn from Bigfoot about sales and some questions for sellers to think about:
1. People are dying to see him. To the point they actively search for him. In fact, you can take Bigfoot sighting tours and visit a database of places Bigfoot sightings have been reported—all to increase your odds of getting a glimpse.
Are new business prospects searching for you? What can you do to make this happen?
2. Brand awareness is everything. Bigfoot has quite a branding thing going on. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone on the planet who hasn't heard of Bigfoot, which would definitely make merchandising—t-shirts, mugs and other memorabilia—easier to sell if Bigfoot ever decided to get into the biz.
Do you have a brand? If so, what is it? How do you promote your brand? If you don't have a brand, why not?
3. It is important to leave evidence of your existence. A giant footprint left here or there has done wonders for Bigfoot.
What remnants of your sales existence are you leaving behind? Is it tied to your brand? Does it enhance your brand? Will it help advance your sales process?
4. People still want to see him even if he has some baggage (shaggy appearance and gamey/earthy odor). Maybe you don't want to admit to this one, but we all have some areas we can work on. The important thing is how you use your strengths to work around those weaker points.
What's your baggage? What are you doing to overcome it? What value do you bring to make people overlook your baggage?
5. Legends thrive and the tales are passed along by story tellers. A great story is passed along from one person who tells three others, who each tell three more... until the subject of the story is larger than life.
What kind of stories are past and present customers telling about you? What can you do to create some stories about how you do business that will be passed along? Is the way you do business worth talking about?
You may not be fortunate enough to enjoy a real-life-kinda Bigfoot sighting; however, you can improve your sales output by learning from the big guy and adjusting your sales strategy to include some of the items listed above.
I'd love to hear what YOU are doing to be the Bigfoot of your industry. Please share your professional branding strategies in the comments below. What are you doing to be thought of as a legend in your business?
Kurt Sima is a VP/Senior Consultant at The Center for Sales Strategy
