Occupy Wall Street Should Take a Lesson in Sales
I like the idea that the Wall Street “occupiers” are protesting corporate America’s business practices. I just don’t dig how they’re going about it.
Let’s forget about the protestors not having a clear and singular message. That's not essential. The rest of the country gets it. We know why they’re there, and we don’t need the media to dumb down or dumb up why they’re angry.
Dear Protestors: You don’t need to sell us. We (those who aren’t millionaires or near millionaires) are sold. But you need to start selling -- and soon -- to those whom you oppose.
You need to reach the decision-makers. Yes, folks like Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. And you’re not going to do that by standing outside his penthouse with signs and yelling into a bullhorn.
Do you know why? Because Mr. Dimon doesn’t care. (Yet.) You don’t have his undivided attention because you’re not pitching him. You’re pitching Shirley the Gatekeeper, which in this particular case is the media.
Rule #1 in sales: Pitch the final decision maker. Dimon’s your guy, but right now Jamie is looking down from his office suite, sipping an espresso, and probably smiling.
You know why? Because he’s safe, he’s out of harm’s way, and he shares Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s view: Winter is coming up fast on the protestors. Let’s just wait them out.
Do you want to get his attention? Start calling his office. Start getting direct lines and email addresses for CEOs and C-level executives and start occupying their phone lines and their email inboxes.
Right now, dear protestors, you’re occupying space outside the offices of these Wall Street leaders. You need to be on the inside.
The trouble with most people when they encounter a problem with a company is that they insist on dealing with customer service. Forget customer service. Call the people at the top -- and keep calling.
Well, doesn’t calling the CEO of a Fortune 500 company border on harassment? No, it doesn’t.
When you call simply say you’re interested in buying the company stock and would like to know more about the organization. After all, you want to make an informed decision. (Isn’t that what they advising us to do when we watch their TV ads?)
“Well,” Shirley the Gatekeeper might tell you, “you’ll need to call our investors relations department.”
“Well, Shirley, I’d like to speak to the person running the company.”
"But he’s the CEO, he’s very busy.”
“So am I Shirley. Trying to stay afloat. Now is he in?”
Camping out and holding signs and chanting is wonderful, but why not add to the impact and do what salespeople do every day? Get in front of the decision maker. In this case, that means getting them on the phone.
Now, are you really going to get Jamie Dimon on the horn? Probably not. But if all the growing numbers of protestors scattered across the country decide to start calling his office -- day after day after day -- they just might get his attention and just might create the necessary dialogue to get the “deal” done.
Whatever that deal happens to be.
