鈥淢y name is Joe (not my real name) 鈥� and I鈥檓 an order-taker.鈥�
鈥淗iii, Joe!鈥�
That鈥檚 how my confession started at OTA, Order Takers Anonymous. 鈥淎t first, I felt okay about it. I picked up the phone and met with some builders. Many didn鈥檛 talk with me. I was na茂ve, so I persisted until I had several meetings with those who said they were interested in doing business with me because I seemed so interested in them.鈥�
Fellow order-takers leaned in and nodded sympathetically. They know the slings and arrows we suffer. People demean us, and sales managers shout at their salespeople to not be one of us.
鈥淗ow did it start?鈥� one fellow OT asked.
On the verge of tears, I confessed that Charlie Lewis gave me an order and I was addicted immediately. Not only did Charlie give me an order, but he told me he was going to continue to do so. He said that the other salesperson took him for granted and that I made his orders easy for him.
I started needing to make cold calls all the time. One led to another. Failure pushed me to chase the high of success. Success made me want more. I admitted shamefully I had become an addict.
As everyone nodded, one courageous OT asked, 鈥淵es, but didn鈥檛 you have to overcome objections and really sell?鈥�
I admitted that objections and the theories to overcome them felt overblown. If someone gave me a flat-out reason not to buy or expressed mild concerns, I learned to accept it. Strangely, the concerns often dissipated. If they didn鈥檛, I figured I could call someone else in the market to find a better opportunity. One fellow OT laughed and reiterated, 鈥淥vercoming objections is overblown.鈥� Everyone laughed, but I couldn鈥檛. I was still accused of being an order-taker.
Sally (not her real name) said, 鈥淚 have the same problem. If someone doesn鈥檛 want to buy from me, I figure there are a lot of other opportunities in the market, and I just keep calling people to try to take an order from someone else.鈥� Everyone nodded.
I confessed how na茂ve I was. There are CRMs and spreadsheets and a host of methods for tracking your sales leads. My system was merely a list I kept in the visor of my truck. Every time I got a new lead, I wrote it down. My boss didn鈥檛 like that because he wanted everything documented in a way that he could see on his computer. I told him that an honest piece of paper is more effective than a fictitious spreadsheet.
My boss accepted my answer because of my huge sales volume, and fortunately for me, showed me how much easier it was to track my leads on a spreadsheet, which I now use. 鈥淚t鈥檚 funny though,鈥� I told the OTA group. 鈥淢y boss later told the other salespeople he鈥檇 be happy if they would at least track their activity on a piece of paper honestly.鈥�
Then he snapped, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need order-takers around here. We need salespeople like Joe!鈥� I shuddered and felt the shame we order-takers feel. Yes, we鈥檙e getting the business and, yes, it鈥檚 profitable and, yes, we鈥檝e achieved levels of income we didn鈥檛 expect. Wait! That鈥檚 when it hit me鈥攅very salesperson should aspire to become an order-taker, someone the customer should feel comfortable giving orders to!
Salespeople complain that our market is different or that it鈥檚 all about price. Some complain that there aren鈥檛 enough leads to go around or that service is costing them business. While all this happens, I just keep building my list of targets in the market and making the calls. I get the first appointments, and then listen to understand what my prospects are all about.
Then, after a few interactions, and sometimes on the first try when I鈥檓 lucky, they just give me an order. So 鈥� I take it!
I wish I could overcome the stigma, but it鈥檚 not easy. In the meantime, I鈥檒l just keep making the calls and taking the orders. That鈥檚 my story. I鈥檓 Joe and if someone gives me an order, I take it, and you should too!
