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Death of a Salesman
By Jim Stavis
Recently I was having dinner
with a friend who is in sales. He
was lamenting to me how
everything has changed in the
business world and how
customers had become so
difficult to deal with. So I asked
him why this was so and all he
could attribute this to was that
buyers were increasingly more
difficult and that margins of profit
were thinner than ever. But, what
bothered him the most was the
conduct of the buyers from the
“way it used to be.” “Now
everyone wants their bid E-mailed
or faxed to them. There is no
more human contact, no
interaction with the customer.” He
explained, “In the old days we
used to have lunch to discuss quotes or we might catch a
ballgame together. Today, I’m
dealing with a buyer that I hardly
know, let alone can spend any
time with. As a result, all
anybody cares about is price.”
I was thinking about what my
friend said. I thought about the
play “Death of a Salesman”
when Willy Loman says that
unlike his colleague Charley, he
intends to be “well-liked.” He
tells his sons that in business as
in life, character, personality and
human connections are more
important than smarts. Says
Willy: “The man who makes an
appearance in the business
world, the man who creates
personal interest, is the man
who gets ahead. Be liked and
you will never want.”
Unfortunately in the current
world, this belief is really outdated.
With E-mail, faxes and
the Internet, buyers are
equipped with weaponry like
never before. So what is a salesman to do? Change
careers?
Perhaps the answer lies in
their approach.
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The one thing
my friend really did not consider
in the “new equation” was what
his role should be in this
changing environment. How
could he add value to the
companies he was soliciting in
spite of losing contact with his
buyers? It takes a creative
sales\person to understand the
needs of his customers and to
find a way to fulfill those needs.
It may not be the old way of
taking them to a ballgame or the
three martini lunch, but there
still is a place for good
sales\people.
The reality is that we all want
to pay Wal-Mart prices and yet
get Nordstrom levels of quality
and service. Unfortunately it
usually doesn’t work that way.
The performance of a good
salesperson is usually rewarded
with the business. But providing
value is the key, not just being
Willy Loman’s likable guy with
the best tickets. |
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2006 Economic Forecast
The smart people over at the
MSCI (Metal Service Center
Institute) just completed their
forecast for 2006. They believe
the economy will expand by 3%
to 3.5% next year. According to
William Strauss, the senior
Economist of the Federal Bank of
Chicago, even with Hurricane
Katrina, the effect will only be
temporary. “The old economic
adage that disasters are good for
the GDP because of the spending
required for the recovery, it
follows then that the larger the
disaster, the better it is for the
economy.”
Energy costs and housing will
prove to have an impact on the
economic numbers but steel
needs should continue to rise.
According to Joshua Mendelsohn of Mendelsohn Global Economics,
the worldwide economic growth
should decline by 3% to 3.5% in
2006 versus the 4% anticipated for
2005.
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 . Once again there is a great
deal of China talk as having a
great influence on global
economics.
We are polishing up our crystal
ball and will release our predictions
before year end. |
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Thoughts on Life
By Jim Stavis
After our August Newsletter (two
months ago) we received some
incredible responses and warm
wishes in support of my health
odyssey. Thank you to all of you
who took the time to respond to
me via E-mail. I have promised to
provide updates to our readers
through this newsletter. As of this
writing, which is in late September,
I am still awaiting the organs for
my transplant trifecta. I have been
on an “any day now” status for
over three weeks. I feel like the
sprinter who is firmly in the blocks
and the starter says, “On your mark, get set,” - and then there is
no gun shot. I wait suspended on
the blocks. I must subscribe to the
adage of whatever is of value is
worth waiting for. Hopefully by the
time you receive this newsletter, I will have had my big day.
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When I think about all the
devastation that has recently
occurred in the Gulf Coast, it
should give us pause to think
about our own life situations. In a
matter of a few days, life can
dramatically turn. For some it can
be in just a moment. We work so
hard to bring order and a plan into
our daily lives and then something
so unplanned can turn our lives
into a state of chaos. It is
refreshing to see how people react
in these times of despair. I
continue to be impressed with the
human spirit and the generous
mind. I’ve learned through this
newsletter that our steel audience
is composed not just of “steel
users,” but of people with
wonderful intentions that happen
to use steel. Thank you for that.
If you wish to respond, I can be
reached at
jstavis@paragonsteel.com |
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