Today I met the greatest salesman in the world. I was looking for a B2B supplier of desktop widgets and he's a sales rep with Big Widget Worldwide Co. I just happened upon him by chance. And, no, his name is not Zig Ziglar, Jay Conrad Levinson, Anthony Robbins, Stephan Schiffman, or Neil Rackham. He does not have a memorable household name; his name was Mike Smith. Such an ordinary name but he was an extraordinary person. After all, he is a top sales professional, a super seller, the greatest salesman in the world.

How do I know that he is the greatest salesman in the world? Guiness Book Of Records doesn't have a category for that. The truth is, I don't know. I work for a big corporation and dozens of salespeople come in and out of my office every day pitching their goods and services. I've heard all of the sales pitches, all of the hard sells, and all of sales closes imaginable.

That's not to mention the cold calls I get every day. I've seen it all. The reason I think he is the greatest is because he didn't find me, I found him. I searched for desktop widgets on the internet and his name was everywhere. I opened the yellow pages and his photo was right there in the desktop widgets category. I asked my peers and colleagues and they said that Mike Smith is the expert in his field. He is the desktop widgets expert. He knows those widgets inside and out. Well, since Mike's name is everywhere when I inquired about desktop widgets I bought from him. And, you want to know something? Mike doesn't resemble a salesperson at all. He didn't even need to sell those widgets to me. The sale was made before we even met. He just took my order.

Can an order taker be the greatest salesman in the world? Too many salespeople try to fit the image of what a salesperson should and shouldn't do. But the bottom line is it doesn't matter how you get your sales as long as you exceed the targets set by your sales manager and earn top commissions. Does it matter if sales come via cold calling for sales leads or if they come v

ia referrals, advertising, and marketing? I think that as long as you are earning a good income it doesn't matter how the sales come.

Mike learned early that there is an opportunity cost involved with cold calling. Cold calling takes a lot of time, precious time that could be better used in front of clients and prospects. Sales are made in front of people and not on the phone. So, Mike positioned himself as an expert in his field. He did this by offering free advice. He writes online articles that provide features and benefits of desktop widgets, as well as useful hints on how to get the most productivity out of your desktop widgets. He is always available to media for interviews and he seeks any free media exposure. He also has his own advertising budget, even though his company doesn't pay for it.

He knows that for every certain amount of dollars spent on advertising brings him even more worth of business and commissions. He makes it so that when people search for desktop widgets they find him first. He advertises exactly where his target market looks first. Over time, he also began getting more and more business referrals from past clients. This is a natural progression in his line of work. Happy customers refer more happy customers.

Mike Smith doesn't cold call. He has no sales closing techniques. He doesn't read sales books. He is not part of any organized business networking groups. He has never taken sales training courses.

Mike Smith is an order taker. He is the greatest salesman in the world.

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