Tale of the quiet salesman

Several years ago my current sales manager told me this story.

Way back in time, he was working together with a rather unusal salesman. Nobody in the company knew much about him, as he seldom took the time to hang out in the office to chit-chat with the other employees.

This guy was constantly on top of the sales charts, outselling almost everybody in the company. It was rather strange since he seemed to work less than everybody else and didn’t strike anybody as the “typical salesman”, almost shy and withdrawn as he was. He could be absent from work for days on end if he had made enough sales the previous week.

Needless to say, my former sales manager was curious on what kind of “sales magic” this guy was using on his clients. So one day he politely asked him whether he could join him on a couple of sales meetings to learn. Luckily, he said yes, and they agreed to spend the next day selling together.

He made a sale on the second and third appointement that day. My former manager could hardly belive what he was witnessing, as he felt the other guy was doing some horrible presentations! He was just as quiet when talking to the prospects as he used to be back at the office. Not only did he say very little, but his voice, man it was like he was almost whispering! The prospect could hardly hear what he was saying.

When they returned to the car, he had to ask him. -Why do you talk with such a damn low voice??? -Well to be honest with you, I do it on purpose. It makes people concentrate to listen to what I have to say. – And one more thing, he said. -In case you haven’t noticed, very few people I know like others who talks too much…

Few months later “the quiet salesman” quit the firm, but my former manager never forgot about him.

Now it’s your turn. What can we learn from this story?