Her name was Janet. She was a goddess in my eyes. Tall, beautiful, blonde. . . let’s just say that I had a problem speaking when she was near. So here I am at this concert at my high school being given by a 70s rock cover band. Let me make clear – this was billed as a concert. Janet approaches me and asks me to dance. “DANCE????”, I thought to myself. “I wasn’t told this was a dance. I never dance”. Somehow even though my mind was screaming those thoughts, my mouth said, “Yeah” to this goddess of my high school. So we walked to a portion of the gymnasium floor that wasn’t so packed and we danced. Okay, she danced. I bobbed my head, swung my arms a little and prayed to God that I didn’t look like an ape having a seizure. I was so worried about how I looked, I didn’t even talk to her after the dance. Now, I can see that I should have at least asked for a homework date, but no I let the opportunity pass. That was the extent of my dancing.
Decades later, I’m hanging out with a friend at a country bar. She said, “Come on. Let’s dance”. Visions of my debacle with Janet rushed to my mind. She said, “It’s easy. I’ll teach you.” The thing is, country 
dancing IS easy. It has specific patterns that you follow. Learn those simple patterns and you are good to go. Within 10 minutes, she had me 2 stepping. Within a half hour, I had also grasped the Electric Slide. Night by night, I would learn a little bit more. Going a couple times a month, it took a few months and I mastered it. After a while a new dance partner would teach my a new move or even a completely new dance. Then, I became the one who said, “You can’t dance? Don’t worry, I will teach you. It’s easy.” I have now taught hundreds of folks how to 
dance.
Ah yes, sales. I am supposed to be talking about that, right? Well, what I have found is that sales is much like dancing. I know that many people think dancing is like dating, but let’s focus on the dating analogy for now (keeps this from getting R rated). So, as for dancing being like selling. I lost count of how many people I spoke with that thought they could never sell. However, in time, step by step, they learn and can master how to help people in sales. So, when it came to training people how to become salespeople, I kept these points in mind:
1) Start with the basics. In dancing, the easiest dance is called the “Cupid Shuffle”. Honestly, people learn the entire dance in less than 90 seconds. I could try to teach them “Swamp Thing” or any other complicated dance, but the key is to let them get a victory. I will 
teach the easy dances first and then work my way up harder. In sales, I teach the basics first. I show them that sales is just communication. They communicate all the time. They even sell their spouse or their kids (but they never realized it).
2) When “going live” learn your pace and boundaries. With dancing, you can both hear the beat. Don’t dance fast in a slow song and don’t dance slow in a fast song. You also want to stay somewhat close, just not too close. In sales, you want to be fairly close to your clients pace and also be aware not to cross your clients boundaries.
3) When you have the basics down, “sell” your moves. I know a guy that has been dancing 
for years and years. But on the dancefloor, he barely moves. He honestly looks like he is bored. Me? I think “what if I put my hips into this?”, “What about if I pointed there?”. In other words, I do the dance, but I put a little extra of the style that is “me” into it. Now sometimes that doesn’t work. When that happens I take the new nuance out. In sales, once you have mastered the basics, you can also bring more of you into the process. If it doesn’t work, take that part of you back out.
4) Relax and enjoy. Dance like no one is watching. I just dance to have fun. If someone comes up to me and compliments me or asks me to show them, so much the better. In sales, we are also most effective when we remove the stress and anxiety. Relax, go with the flow, and if tonight is not your night, practice at home and go out again tomorrow night.
Comments(30)