How would you do if you had to sell to Donald Trump?
What would you do differently in a meeting with him than you would do with some other customer?
I would say if you were scheduled to present to Donald Trump, you would spend more time than normal preparing. You might even be a salesperson who would spend an extensive amount of time preparing.
Why would you spend more time preparing for him than you would for any other customer?
The reason is because it’s Donald Trump, that’s why. In the back of your mind, you would have all of the images and perceptions you have heard regarding Donald Trump. Without much prompting, your mind would start racing to create thoughts and ideas as to how he might treat you and what he might say.
Some of you would see the opportunity to sell to Donald Trump truly as a great sales opportunity, and others would approach it terrified, for fear of being served up as road-kill by The Donald. Whatever perception you form before going into the meeting will ultimately drive your attitude, confidence and sales motivation.
Donald is not unlike you. He has to get dressed everyday. He needs food and drink to survive, and he uses the restroom just like everyone else. Simply put, put the grandiose image aside and he is just like everyone else.
When we allow our mind to develop perceptions and, in particular, negative perceptions, we are resigning ourselves to defeat even before the battle.
Yes we should go into a meeting with Donald prepared, but we should go into the meeting with the belief we will succeed in achieving our goals. Each presentation we make, regardless of who it might be to, is an opportunity for us demonstrate to the other person who we are and why we are successful.
If you think about that for a moment, that is no different than how somebody like Donald Trump feels going into a meeting too.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
Mark,
Thoroughly enjoyed this post. Now, I’m not trying to promote my book, but I thought your audience might enjoy the section in it entitled Presenting to Donald Trump:
Presenting to Donald Trump
Barry Thalden once told me a great story about presenting to Donald Trump: “I managed to arrange a meeting with Donald Trump. We met in what later became the infamous Board Room on his TV show The Apprentice. My presentation was on slides. As I started to set up my projector, he immediately objected. Undaunted, I told him it would only take a few minutes and would fully explain the opportunity I’d come to show him. Once the presentation began he interrupted me several times, trying to rush me along; each time I told him I was just getting to the part he wanted to know about. I’d come all the way to New York to see him; I was going to do it my way, come hell or high water. I wasn’t going to chicken out, be intimidated because he was Donald Trump. When the presentation was over he said, ‘I can’t believe you got me to sit through your entire presentation—my rule for meetings is 12 minutes and out.’ As you know, I got the job.” If Thalden can stand his ground with an egomaniac like Trump, you can do the same with anyone—if, like Thalden, you’re fearless.