Sometimes you should let your imagination take charge. When you have been focusing hard on a business/sales/marketing problem, let your mind take a rest from the strain of searching for a solution and take flight, influenced by whatever is going on around you, the results might surprise you. Years ago, in my misspent youth, I became known for innovative approaches to sales situations, all because of a vivid imagination. Then I had to spend the rest of my career living up to the results achieved by that original flight of fancy.

 

I was a fledgling “account executive” (read; salesman) for a major company in travel services, working in Los Angeles. Our primary competitor had started an ad campaign aimed at our national account customers and the response from our New York headquarters was to offer a volume-based annual rebate to prevent any erosion of our business. Our LA sales team had been brain-storming, planning a sales blitz of our national accounts to implement the dividend program and shortstop our competitor’s push. This was on my mind one night as I sat watching the evening news.

 

The California government was in deep budget trouble (so what’s new) and cuts were being announced. Educational spending was taking a big hit and all superfluous programs were being shelved. On the evening news was being shown an excerpt from an interview with the Chancellor of the California State Colleges, who had just stated that they were going to curtail some athletic and extra curricular programs at all nineteen campuses of the CSC. I mentally did the math and realized that the staffs of these CSC campuses were all potential customers who could generate a rebate for the cash-strapped State Colleges.

 

The next morning, without an appointment, I presented myself at the office of the Chancellor and asked who I should speak to about making a $50,000 donation to the California State Colleges. After a very brief wait I was ushered into the Chancellor’s office and was able to present our rebate program to the Chancellor and two vice-Chancellors; business and legal affairs. They liked my presentation and three weeks later, after they had verified the legality of their involvement in such a program, I received an order for more than 32,000 of our company credit cards to facilitate the implementation of our rebate program. The results of my imaginative approach were more than $3 million per year in new business for my company and a rebate of more than $100,000 per year to the California State Colleges. 

 

A little imagination and the initiative to follow through on an idea were the keys to getting a large order. This was my first (but not my last) departure from “normal” selling approaches and techniques, and it set the tone for the majority of my business career. I learned to take a little different approach to ordinary selling situations and it served me well for much of my commercial business career.

 

The Lesson: Set yourself apart from the crowd by using imagination and initiative (but, don’t be crazy, just take different approach). It draws attention to your efforts and achieves results. Your customers will never forget you and your boss will appreciate your efforts . . . and you might even make a buck or two.