Servant Selling "Love Cats"

I have two more “Love Cat” Servant Selling stories today. The first comes from a great book, “The Relationship Edge” by Jerry Acuff and Wally Wood. The second, from a lunch appointment I had a few years back.

Mike was a Memphis, Tennessee based commissioned salesman for packaging company Wurzburg, Inc. Two months after he started working for the company, the Accardi family's blender broke. Dirt poor at the time, he told his wife he would stop by a Sunbeam/Oster repair place that was on his regular Tuesday route. An older guy at the shop said he could repair the appliance and Mike suggested that he could pick it up the next week when he was back in the area. The next week, Mike stopped by, and as promised, the blender was repaired. The bill was a mere $2.50. Mike was shocked at the small cost and promised the man that if he ever needed packaging supplies he would provide anything under the normal list price.

Mike made the little repair shop a regular part of his weekly route. He’d just stop by and visit for a few minutes, knowing it would never turn into a big account. Over a couple of years time, the man placed a few small orders. One week, Mike stopped in and the guy asked if he had a few minutes. Mike assured him he’d give him all the time he needed.

They got in the car and drove to the northern part of the city. They pulled into a parking lot of what would soon be a million-square-foot building. The man explained to Mike that for two years he was the only salesperson who had treated him with respect and value. He went on to say “It’s Payback Time”. Sunbeam was closing their headquarters in Chicago and moving everything to Memphis. The man escorted Mike to every department with the admonition, “This is Mike Accardi, you buy all your packaging supplies from him.”

This relationship paid off to the tune of a 40 foot trailer of packaging supplies every week. The department heads at Sunbeam became so loyal to Mike that when ever a competitor came in to speak about their packaging needs, they would just hand them Mike’s card with the explanation “he handles all our packaging.”

When Sunbeam moved again, 12 years later, Mike maintained the relationship and the account. Sunbeam insisted they weren’t going to deal with anyone other than Mike Accardi!

This story reminds me of Kay Alehandro, who sold cars at the Saturn dealership in Fresno, California where I lived at the time. She was the top sales person at the dealership, and wanting to learn, I took her to lunch. I asked her about what she did that set her apart from those that sold half of what she did.

Her answer came in the form of a story. Recently, an African American woman had walked in to the dealership not looking very prosperous. Kay agreed to serve the woman because no one else wanted to. The other sales people seemed to have that magical psychic ability to know in advance who would or could buy. Kay served the woman as she did everyone who walked into the dealership with dignity and respect. After Kay’s presentation of the Saturn product, the woman opened her purse and paid cash on the spot.

Tim Sanders is right. Love is the Killer App. It is the business process that trumps all other business processes. In tomorrow’s post we’ll look at another Sales Love Cat from the Automobile Industry.