Sales lesson from American Idol
Posted by Frank Belzer on Mon, Mar 09, 2009 @ 08:53 PM
I hate to admit this but my family and I do enjoy watching American Idol. However over the last few weeks I have noticed something that happening that I believe has a pretty direct correlation to the performance of your sales people.
Initially when these folks audition they all sound relatively good - that is if they get selected. But then week after week people that sounded good early on start to choke. In the last few episodes the choking has been pretty severe by the way.
So my observations and subsequent deduction is this. Just because someone "can" sing in front of a few judges doesn't mean that they will sing when in front of a much bigger audience, in an auditorium or when they have to perform alongside another vocalist. Just because someone has great tone and pitch when singing in a karaoke bar that doesn't mean they are a great singer or great performer.
Conversely some who sounded average have really picked it up a notch - it is as if they thrive under the pressure and their skills are heightened by the moment.
So sales people sometimes look and sound like they can sell - and maybe they could to an empty room. But when you put them in a selling situation, you add the pressure and mix in the nerves and all of a sudden they crumble and fail. Then you are surprised and ask - what happened? So screening candidates involves much more than a simple audition. Unlike American Idol you are probably not in business to entertain and the failure of your people is a bigger issue - they don't simple get voted off the show. You have to live with it.
