Day in the life of the "Natural Salesman"

This is a sales story, although not an exciting one. You won't be taking notes on this for sure. It was simply a day that reminded me why I love being a salesman, "the Natural Salesman"
In September 1993, I was doing some pretty good business in Redding, Ca. I was getting alot of contractors working and living in Weaverville coming into my SWAT events in Redding so I decided to open one dealer there. I would go into town strong and confident and make one of these lumberyards excited to carry a product they dont have and dont get a big call for.
Early one morning, I drove from Redding to Weaverville to open one of the lumberyards in town. First stop, HomeCraft Lumber, Mike and Phyllis Price had just sold the store to a larger lumberyard, Schmidbauer Lumber and were there to run the business for the next couple years. I had to "create the common denomitor", quickly. I needed to find something out about these people that I can relate to from my personal experiences. Finding the common ground is the most important sales skill you can possess. But it cant be fake. You are the demonitor that needs to adapt to theirs, it's simple math, lol.
As I began to establish this new relationship, I told him I was here in town today to open up only one of the two yards as a Bostitch dealer. It didnt happen that day, but with some follow-through I opened them up as a Full Line Bostitch Construction Dealer. I did many SWAT(Stanley Works Attack Team) events over the next few years and as his Bostitch biz grew through perserverence, hard work, and salesmanship, we owned the local market for a good 5 years. I was promoted in late 1999 and have had many differents positions and territories since. For all intents and purposes, they have not been my account since 1999.
Today, for the first time in years, I headed for the big W. As I reached the top of the wiskeytown grade, I remembered the Bronco's first death. As I had reached the peak with 327,000 miles on her, she died and speewed blue smoke into the 100 degree air. She did live on to her second life/engine and now lives in Caleveras County as a snow-plow.
As I pull up to the front of the store, the marque reads, "Thank You FireFighters!" and I spot the Bostitch banner in the front window. Phyllis walksout to her car with an armfull of afgans. I say, "Phyllis!", she turns, looks at me a nd says, "John, what are you doing here?" We used to exchange pictures and stories of our kids, today, we exchange grandbaby pictures. We go in the store and there's Mike. He doesnt fish tourneyments anymore, bought a motorhome and He and Phyllis are finally retireing next year.
I pulled out my promo's, went over a couple of them and took two PO's.
When you treat people right, and let them in on you the person, it creates lasting relationships. You must be a "Natural" part of their business to succeed.