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AV Horror Stories: Sell Me This Pen
By Joe Way, PhD, CTS
For some reason, my social media Stories/Reels has recently been flooded by every new hot sales guru recreating the famous “sell me this pen” training exercise. For those who aren’t familiar of it, “sell me this pen” was a sales lesson made famous by stockbroker—and financial criminal, turned FBI informant—Jordan Belfort in the late 80’s, early 90’s, most notably portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street.
In short, the nexus of “sell me this pen” is that when young, untrained, salespeople have a potential client in front of them, they will try to actually “sell” the pen by beginning to list off all the features of the pen. It feels good in your hand. It is professional looking. It writes well. It is affordable. Etc., etc. And while those are all valid reasons to buy a certain pen, jumping straight to feature-sets overlooks the reason your customer even needs the pen in the first place. Seasoned sales professionals won’t let you just buy a pen without finding out first why you even need it. They ask questions. They probe into deeper meaning. What is the purpose the pen will even be used for? Signing a lot of checks? Writing a novel? Calligraphy? Is there a need for multiple pens? Maybe it’s just a status piece that will sit out on an executive desk to be seen by colleagues and customers. And so on and so on. A well-trained salesperson will ask questions to discover best need and appropriate fit. After learning that information, the close is easy; it is just a matter of matching need with features, finally finding the correct pen for the use case. In this way, an effective salesperson enters the conversation not desperately worrying “if” the person will buy a pen, but rather confidently wondering “which” pen the customer will buy. They don’t make client calls to “check in” and “share news” but rather to uncover pain-points that their products can alleviate.
So, what does this have to do with the “Business of AV?” Sadly, this pattern of poor attempts at selling pens is all too common in our industry. I would bet that eight-or-nine out of ten press releases for miscellaneous new product launches jump right in listing the “amazing” features of the device, not the problem it solves. I get it, it’s natural, people want to know “what’s new” and “what’s different?” And, I bet they are “new!” and better!” What distinguishes model #28.45.0001.34933 from model #28.45.0001.34934? I’m sure the marketing team can put together a whole downloadable PDF laying it all out. And while, yes, it is important to be able to learn about the features of a particular device—it does still have to meet the requirements of the job—features don’t solve problems, the proper application of the features to the problem does.
People who have listened to me speak have heard me many times say that I am not a “enter-X-manufacturer’s name” guy. Rather, I am paid to deliver the right *solutions* for my employer (aka, my internal customers) at the time I need to deliver them. In other words, I purchase what solves the problem, not what label is on the front, fancy features are noted on the side of the box, or whatever the new cool flavor-of-the-month is.
For me—and likely a good chunk of my AV-colleagues—my higher education “pen” has five key concerns: scale, cost at volume, uptime, remote management, and accessibility. I don’t care if your device is a bazillion-K resolution at zero latency, can fly on its own, and do the laundry. If it cannot check off my “needs,” it’s a non-starter. Yet, what I often see is reps reaching out to tell me about their new offering and how it is different-and-better than their competitor’s without speaking to how it clicks any of my five “pen” boxes. In fact, I am willing to bet there are a number of sales reps reading this article right now who are only now learning my “pen needs,” when in fact, they could have just asked me from the start. In the famous words of a true sales legend, Zig Ziglar: “Stop selling. Start helping.”
But, that’s not the end of the story… It is a two-way street. It is not fair that I shine the light on our salespeople when we as a higher ed vertical also are not open and honest about what we need and the contingencies of the project scope. I’ve witnessed many of my colleagues treat their sales reps horribly and then come to the backend message boards complaining that they aren’t getting the help they need. We cannot purposely hold back information and still expect to get the right service delivery. I have witnessed my colleagues proudly proclaim how they withhold information “until it is needed.” To me, that is code for “wasting everyone’s time.”
For the two-way street to run smoothly and effectively, it is equally important that when our reps do ask us questions about our “pen,” we need to answer forthrightly and candidly. Is there a strict budget or timeline? What is important to your team and customers after the project is complete and everyone leaves the worksite? Are you supporting and installing in-house or through an integrator? What will your refresh cycle look like? Can the network support AVoIP or does the system need to be self-contained? Are there security requirements and approval processes? Is this a one-off project or part of a larger enterprise roadmap? These are all things that your reps need to know in order to help find the right pen for the needs. Yes, we all want shiny-and-new—but more than that—we need appropriateness to the problem being solved for. This only happens with two-way conversation, with multiple solution providers, in an open and fair RFP process.
Indeed, every company will say they have exactly what you need, but plan ahead and document the necessary requirements for your AV-pen. Create a rubric for the non-negotiable must-haves, the nice-to-haves, the bonuses, and the non-negotiable cannot-haves. And stick to it as you have the conversations. In then end, you will end up with the exact pen your campus needs—not what others who don’t have to live with the end result tell you you should have—and your reps will be properly equipped to help you bring the right solution in a smooth and frictionless manner.
In the end, a successful “pen” sales and purchase transaction is an equal giving, receiving, and understanding from all sides. Both sides are selling and both are buying. That understanding is the formula to forge strong longterm relationships with our channel partners. In the end, the “best way to sell something: don’t sell anything. Earn awareness, respect, and trust of those who buy” (Jordan Belfort).
Connect with Joe Way:
X (Formerly Twitter): https://www.x.com/josiahway
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josiahway
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Website: https://ww.josiahway.com
About Joe Way:
Dr. Josiah Way is the Executive Director, Digital Spaces at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), known as a revolutionary visionary and innovator in the audiovisual industry. As the leading educational technology thought leader, Joe was recognized as the 2019 AV Professional of the Year, 2023 AV Living Legend, 2008 Businessman of the Year, and is named to multiple top industry and influencers lists, including the 2024 global Top 100 Innovators and Entrepreneurs, 2024 Who’s Who in America, 2023 Top 50 UC Professionals, and 2019 and 2022 Top 30 Higher Ed IT Leaders lists. He is a highly sought keynote speaker and writer, most acclaimed for his innovative design of the technology standard for hybrid instruction and business development within the higher ed vertical. Joe is the cofounder of the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance (HETMA) and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Higher Ed AV Media, host of the Higher Ed AV Podcast, and writer of the Business of AV monthly column. Dr. Way authored the bestselling book, Producing Worship, and is a regular contributor to multiple leading AV-industry publications, while also serving on numerous corporate and higher education advisory boards. Joe has over 30 years’ experience in education, technical production and the arts, and organizational leadership and management. He has been featured in Forbes Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, ABC and PBS Television, Yahoo News, and consulted for high profile organizations like the United Nations, US Department of Education, and over forty Fortune 500’s. In his free time, Joe enjoys cruising the lake on his boat with family and friends, golfing PGA West, and perfecting his Traeger meat-smoking techniques. Oh, and he once won his fantasy football league. Joe is available for speaking and media engagements and business development consulting.
Presented by XTEN-AV, the premier award-winning AV design and proposal software for higher education. Get a free trial and 10% off your first year by mentioning “Higher Ed AV” at www.xtenav.com. Click here to learn more!