by Neil Gillespie

A creed is a formal statement of beliefs, principles or opinions that serves as a standard by which people live their lives. Neil Gillespie, president of Infinity Strategic Consulting, developed the following distributor salesperson's creed. it deserves to be copied, passed on to colleagues and posted in every distributor salesperson's cubicle or office. Refer to it often as a reminder of how you choose to conduct yourself as a professional distribution salesperson.

I will work for the customers interest above all things and truly enjoy helping my customers achieve their roles and business objectives.

I will cover all sales influences at my accounts, determine their roles and needs, and position our products, services and proposals to help people fulfill those roles.

I will gain the cooperation and respect of my co-workers.

I will gain the cooperation and respect of my suppliers.

I will be a good interviewer and listener.

I will learn about my customers business, how they make money, what their productivity needs are.

I will set the tone of relationships early, making it known how much I appreciate good performance from my supporting relationships, as well as how much I dont enjoy poor, unresponsive performance.

I will be a good negotiator, knowing how to sell the value of service and how to quantify it.

I will have objectives for every sales contact I initiate.

I will determine next steps and responsibilities for each sales contact and communicate them.

I will follow up and use a Personal Digital Assistant or other device to help me remember to follow up.

I will not procrastinate. I will take care of things that can be taken care of from wherever I am at the time I learn of a problem or need.

I will never badmouth my own people or suppliers to the customer, or make excuses. I will simply listen to complaints, rephrase them to the customer and commit to fixing them back at the office.

I realize the companys profitability needs and will sell at equitable prices for both my company and the customer.

I will network and get involved with the local trade associations my customers are involved with.

I will learn about my competition, who their people are, what their strengths and weaknesses are.

I will learn products well enough to recognize selling opportunities and sell general benefits provided by product features.

I will handle problems and potential problems as soon as I sense them, before they have a chance to set in and fester with my customers.

I will tell the truth. I wont say anything if it is inappropriate to divulge sensitive information.

I will be persistent and not discourage easily.

I will be resilient, bouncing back from losses.

I will be humble, not exulting or preening too much after wins, for it may demoralize my peers, or incite my competition to anger and retribution.

I will be generous, sharing credit for wins with all those who helped.

I will sell only enough to get the order, realizing that interruptions are opportunities to move the customer to closure.

I will read the trade magazines my customers read.

I will keep profiles of my customers, with company information as well as all sales influences at the company.

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2000 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2000.

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