As we begin to close out Black History week, I wanted to give you a chance, once again to see what it was like for a true sales pioneer.  His ability to deal with racial preference, racial discrimination, and acts of racial prejudice are legendary.  We cannot avoid giving kudos to International Business Machines (IBM) in their effort to promote diversity.

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Amazingly enough, it is still not too late to be the first! Being the first is an important role in American society.  It is equally important in business.

I am going to use cite one iconic American company as an example. As a matter of fact, it is more than symbolic, because this organization took a leadership role.  This is a brief study in how an organization handles diversity.

A Leader in More Ways than One

In 1946 International Business Machines, also known as IBM, hired its first black sales representative. It was an individual named Tom (T.J.) Laster. This was well before the Civil Rights Act of 1963.  This act was also well before the Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier inprofessional baseball.  This was not a beauty products company, or someone selling durable goods products to the Black community, this was a business products company that was on the technical leading edge, and selling their product to basic ‘white’ America’s businesses.

The audience that Laster was something to was decidedly in the majority. If we think we see racial prejudice and racial preference, we need to recognize that we see nothing like this gentleman was faced with during his tenure as a sales professional.  A couple of years later, Laster joined the 100% Club, an honor for reaching his sales quota.  This was affirmation to many that this individual was a qualified and accomplished sales professional.

The 40s, 50s, and 60s were decidedly difficult time even dream of being “the first” in B2B sales, but someone had to do it.  Soon after Laster, IBM hired their first Black marketing representative (Lionel Fultz) in 1951, their first Black engineer in 1952 (Harry Cochraine), and their first Black engineering manager, (Calvin Waite) in 1956.  Lionel Fultz also was named branch manager in 1964.

This made IBM a leader in both business machines as well as employment diversity.  It also made Tom Laster a pioneer in the sales diversity situation.  He was willing, and obviously began destroying the racial perceptions that Blacks, or Negros as we were referred to in that time, could not handle the technical nature and business relationship issues related to B2B sales to a white business populace.  I would believe that partially as a result, many others Black professionals followed through the doors that were opened.

There was no greater a threshold in business sales as this one!  This was certainly important.  Although you probably won’t read books about it there is no doubt as to the impact.

Following this, IBM, assuming the leadership role again, penned and enacted its Equal Opportunity Policy through the Thomas Watson’s (the president of IBM) letter to his organization termed as Policy Letter # Four.  This September 21, 1953 letter directed his managers to “…hire people regardless of race, color, or creed.”  We wish it was as easy this declaration, but this was a start.

This is Significant, But Why is it Important?

I hope you see the significance in the story of Laster. He is truly a pioneer, and really knows what it feels like to be the first.  What is equally important is that you still can be the first Black sales professional in many organizations.

By the same token, you still can be that individual the changes everyone’s ideas about the abilities and work ethic of black professionals.  It would be nice not to worry about that, but it is significant.

I was not the first Black sale professional in the organization that I came up in. I was actually the third. I was the first Black sales manager, and the first Black vice president, senior vice president, and executive vice president.  I had some interesting experiences, which I try to share in this ‘journal’, but I am certain that many of these assertions would have paled in comparison to the stories that Laster could tell.

Be the Best

There are many small and medium sized organizations that have avoided, for whatever reason, employment diversity.  They could have avoided it because of their small size, or because they purposely have not hired Black sales professionals.  They may have other Blacks and minorities working for the company.  It does not matter what the reason might be, embrace that opportunity to work for and to change those organizations.  Show your stuff!

Your only requirement is to do be best that you can be at what you do.  By being the best, you increase your opportunities for success, as well as destroy ridiculous and erroneous racial perceptions.  Your success will be rewarded with a high compensation rate, but also in the pride you have in being the first!

Be the Best!  Your comments are appreciated.

Sales is a tough but rewarding career.  It pays extremely well if you are with the right firm, and when you get it going well, you will always have a group of skills that you can call upon to increase your performance, and your income.

Not only is sales a tough career, it is one where opinions and impressions of others can rocket you to success, or make it more difficult. Much of this is because perceptions and trust are so important.

I would like to show how building a perception could boost your sales career.  This is not smoke and mirrors, it is real.

Build A Perception

At a point in my sales career I decided to specialize in transportation and trucking.  I am going to indicate how the three major constituents (customers, coworkers, and managers) can positively affect you career by using a couple of examples of situations that happened to me.  I think you will agree that even though the wind blows both ways, good and bad, having people believe in you is a game changer.

I realized early on that I needed a “hook” in my career as there were so many different individuals that a customer could buy commercial lines insurance coverage from.  How was I going to be any different?  It was a plus that I sold for a reputable company that had a national advertising campaign.  The rest was up to me.

Your “hook” will be based on finding a niche, underserved segment, or category that you can build a constituency in.  Let me go on describing my situation and you will see what I mean.

I made a decision that I needed to “specialize” in something because being a “jack of all trades” was not working too well.  I needed to save my career by specializing, and needed something that would result in near immediate results.  I chose selling insurance to medium to large trucking firms because they would listen.  Remember, I believe in being an expert, and you might want to refresh yourself by reading BSJ – Your Customer Needs an Expert .

What Does Your Customer Believe?

The most important thing that I did was to study the industry, the terminology, and the buying habits.  At the point that I think I knew what the customer wanted, I began to say, “I specialize in trucking business”.  When I said this to my first customer, he asked me some rather in-depth questions about the business that I answered well, and he said that he would give me a chance.  I had passed the first test.

Following this, I researched his business and made a host of suggestions as to things that he should do to make changes.  He shot down every one of them except one.  But… he realized that I did understand his business, and maybe just did not understand his operation well enough.  When I sold his account, he said to me that he was so very concerned that he aligns himself with someone who was working with his business for the long term.  I think he was saying that he needed an expert!

This customer then referred customers to me, and me to customers, and were loyal to me during my sales and sales management career.  Darn it, if the customer said I was an expert, I was an expert!

What Do Your Coworkers Perceive?

Coworkers can help you to build a business persona as well.  They have the ability to tear you down as well.  The more you learn the more you can assist them in learning, so it is important to recognize that when you get the knowledge you will gain more by sharing than by not sharing.

They will sing your praises to others regarding your expertise and will refer others with questions to you.  In situations where there are new technologies or processes, you will be the ‘de facto’ expert and gain ‘expert power’ from this.  The people that you work with will ‘need’ you, and the perception of your skills might even be stronger than the skills themselves.

You might be saying that none of this puts money in your pocket, but I want you to recognize that it increases your credibility.  Giving you a power that you cannot claim without others ‘perceiving’ you in a certain way.

It was always said that if you see three people in the morning and they say you look sick or ailing, you might want to go lie down. Well…if your coworkers proclaim you are an expert, and you customers consider you an expert….

Does Your Manager Believes In You?

Your manager is bright and  astute enough to be the  leader of your unit, but even this individual must yield to the fact that customers and your coworkers see you as a force to be listened to.  The manager is concerned with results, not just yours, but results for the sales unit.  It is a difficult to manage a band of sales professionals, and any help by having resources within the unit is welcome.

If your manager believes in you, this individual may give you more latitude with this type of business.  Sending call-in prospects or giving orphaned accounts in your field of specialty is an excellent way to recognize your abilities.  Your ability to retain, or convert these to sales gives you one more feather in your cap.

Remember that this individual is the key to increased compensation in many firms, as well as improvements in territories, resources, and support.

You have the ability to shape the perceptions others have of you, and it is time to start doing it.  Always remember that relationships help you win, and the professional who has the best relationships will win in the end.

Your comments are appreciated.