Would you work with one of your parents?

Published: Wed, 07/03/24

Updated: Thu, 07/04/24

July 3, 2024

TOGETHER WITH

Welcome back to The Quota, and welcome to Q3, where we alternate between scrounging up as many mid-summer deals as possible and sneaking off to a restless, constantly-phone-checking vacation with our families. In this week’s issue, we’ll tell you the story of Shark Tank’s Daymond John, share a Sales Fail about product testing, and give some advice to a rep who’s nervous about working with his father. Let’s do this.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

2.6

The average newly-hired salesperson has 2.6 years of prior experience.

Source: The Bridge Group

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

Every salesperson on earth knows the famous Alec Baldwin scene in Glengarry Glen Ross, and most of us can even recite it from memory. But just how did the movie, preceded by a Pulitzer-Prize winning play, come about in the first place? We came across a recent article on Marketplace.org that covered the origins of the movie, and delved into some of the tactics displayed in the famous scene. You can read more about it here.
A former top Gucci sales associate who reports selling nearly $50 million in goods over the course of her nearly 18-year career, is taking aim at the fashion house in a new Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act class-action lawsuit filed on Wednesday. The former top salesperson is suing the company over python abuse and false welfare claims, claiming that if she had known how some of the products were actually sourced, she would never have agreed to take the job. You can read more about it here.

FEATURE

Leonard Zhukovsky/shutterstock.com

Daymond John: The Sales Genius Behind FUBU

Daymond John’s rise from the streets of Queens, New York, to the heights of entrepreneurial success with his brand FUBU is a masterclass in salesmanship. His journey shows that deeply understanding your market, leveraging cultural movements, and tenaciously pursuing a vision can have huge payoffs. For salespeople, John’s story offers lessons on how grit can take you where you want to go — in John’s case, a multi-million dollar business empire.

Early Beginnings: Identifying a Market Gap

Daymond John was born in 1969 and grew up in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens. As a child, he sold pencils in elementary school, giving him an understanding of supply and demand at an early age. This experience laid the foundation for his future success, teaching him the basics of identifying and fulfilling a market need.

Hip-hop culture was thriving around him, influencing his perspective and sparking his entrepreneurial spirit. Recognizing a gap in the market for clothing that authentically represented the hip-hop community, John, along with his friends J. Alexander Martin, Keith Perrin, and Carl Brown, started FUBU (For Us, By Us) in 1992.

John noticed that popular ski hats were being sold for $20, so he decided to make his own. He sewed together 90 ski hats at his home and sold them on the streets of Queens for $10 each. He then moved on to screen printing t-shirts with the FUBU logo, which were sold to retailers on consignment. All the while, John worked as a waiter at Red Lobster to help fund his nascent business.

Guerrilla Marketing and Hip-Hop Co-signs

One of John's most famous sales tactics during this period was his guerilla marketing approach. Unable to afford traditional advertising, John and his team would loan FUBU clothes to rappers and artists to wear in music videos. This strategy not only saved money but also associated the brand with popular culture, making it infinitely more desirable to their target audience. He understood that selling wasn't just about the product, but about creating a connection with the customer and tapping into their desires and identity.

A pivotal moment came when John convinced LL Cool J, a renowned rapper and neighborhood friend from Queens, to wear a FUBU hat in a GAP commercial. This inadvertent endorsement gave FUBU national exposure and credibility, catapulting the brand into the mainstream. John’s ability to recognize and capitalize on such opportunities highlights a critical sales lesson: the power of customer endorsements. By associating FUBU with influential figures, John significantly amplified the brand’s reach and appeal.

Expanding the Brand: From Local to Global

As FUBU gained popularity, John realized the need to scale his operations and distribution. He participated in major trade shows, where he showcased FUBU’s products to retail buyers. Despite numerous rejections, he continued to pitch FUBU tirelessly. His resilience paid off when he secured a substantial order from Macy’s, marking a significant milestone for FUBU.

Strategic Partnerships and Scaling Production

With increasing demand, John faced the challenge of scaling production. He secured a $100,000 mortgage on his mother’s house to fund FUBU’s expansion, but has since said that he doesn’t recommend doing this as an entrepreneur, as it’s too risky.

As FUBU grew, John's role evolved from street vendor to brand ambassador and dealmaker. He leveraged his charisma and street smarts to secure crucial partnerships and distribution deals. His ability to communicate FUBU's vision and value proposition to potential partners was key to the brand's expansion.

John's sales philosophy centered on authenticity and understanding his customer. He knew that FUBU wasn't just selling clothes, it was selling a lifestyle and a sense of belonging. This deep understanding of his product's emotional appeal allowed him to connect with customers on a level that went beyond mere transactions. FUBU would go on to earn over $6 billion in global sales. Today, some of its pieces are on display in the Smithsonian museum.

The success of FUBU catapulted John into the spotlight, leading to his role as an investor on the hit TV show Shark Tank. Now, instead of selling products, he was selling himself.

On Shark Tank, John demonstrates the importance of active listening in sales. He asks probing questions, seeking to understand not just the product, but the person behind it. This approach allows him to make informed decisions and often helps entrepreneurs refine their own sales pitches.

IF YOU LIKE THIS NEWSLETTER YOU'LL LOVE THIS BOOK

When was the last time you came across a workplace book that you actually enjoyed?

The publisher and designer of this newsletter teamed up to write (and design) I Hope This Email Finds You Never, a hilarious workplace handbook that won't teach you much, but will definitely make you laugh, even if you're dead inside!

With an average 4.1 star rating on Amazon, here's just some of what you can expect:

How long you can get away with being “new” until you’re held accountable
How to make it look like you’re sorry without giving up any power
How to find a workplace friend and make a workplace enemy
Camera position: how to set up your laptop for maximum dominance
Organizing your calendar while leaving time to cry
The rules of the kitchen (stealing someone’s yogurt is literally a crime)
Writing a letter of resignation when you’ve already been resigned from day one

From Orientation (The Descent), Workplace Etiquette (No Eye Contact Before 11 AM), Working Remotely (Wink Wink), Coworkers (Getting Along with your fellow inmates), and everything in between, this book is your must-have guide to surviving (thriving is not realistic) in the modern workplace.

Buy now!

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

How long has Sandler sales training been in practice?

A. 50+ years
B. 30+ years
C. 700+ years
D. 40+ years

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

This is by far the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me during a sales pitch. I was selling marketing agency services, basically managing paid ad spend on FB/Google etc. for e-comm brands. I had a lead that was a DTC beverage startup — it was some health drink that had a bunch of benefits listed on the site. I had a few good calls with them and they asked if I could have my team put together a creative pitch with concepts/ideas for their brand. This is pretty typical for the industry, and usually if the client likes the creative pitch presentation then I end up closing the deal.

We went into their office for the pitch. I brought my team with me. They had a big conference room with a bunch of the bottles of their drinks on a refreshment table with some snacks. The pitch went really well, my team crushed it, the client loved it. After the pitch, we all hung around the conference room for a bit, talking a bit more informally about next steps. I grabbed one of the drinks, it was some kind of green juice spinach-flavored thing. I took a sip and immediately spit it out all over myself and the floor. It was warm and absolutely disgusting. I honestly thought it had gone rotten. I could feel my face turning beet red. I tried to gather myself but was still coughing a bit. The entire room was looking at me. In between coughs I managed to say "it went down the wrong pipe." I didn't want them to think I'd never tried their drinks before or that it was gross. The moment passed and everyone went back to chatting, but I was super embarrassed.

We still ended up closing the deal, but I learned my lesson. Whenever I'm pitching, I always make sure to actually test out the product first. I ended up trying their drinks again, and they're actually not that bad when they're refrigerated.

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- July 2024

WORTH A PEEK

What is your “why” — the reason why you work in sales? It’s an interesting question, and the topic of a recent reddit thread, where answers ranged from the touching to the hilarious. You can check it out here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team

I need some advice. I’ve been looking for a new sales job for the past six months. The reason is because the company I work for has been struggling for the past few years due to bad management and a product that is becoming sort of obsolete in our industry. I can see the writing on the wall and I don’t want to be the last man on the Titanic when it sinks.

I have been on a handful of interviews and gotten one job offer which I turned down because the offer didn’t match what was in the job listing in terms of travel time and total comp. Other than that, nothing promising has come up yet.

However, my father is an engineer and has worked at his company for over twenty years. They make a niche high-end technology product and are publicly traded. They’re not huge but have been around for decades. He says he talked to the head of sales and can get me an interview. Based on what I understand, the pay would be comparable to what I make now, but I would be making a switch in terms of industries and would need to learn a lot.

I am conflicted about taking him up on this offer. On the one hand, this could be a good opportunity to break into a niche industry which will give me specialized sales experience. On the other hand, I have some concerns about working “with” my dad. The first concern is that I’ll feel a different type of pressure working for his company than I would for another company. The other concern is that if I do poorly, it will reflect negatively on him. What do you think I should do? Take the interview or keep looking?

Conflicted in Massachusetts

Dear Conflicted

Put the fact that your father works for the company aside for a moment. If he didn’t work there, would you take the interview? If the answer is yes, then take it. If the answer is no, then don’t.

If you do decide to take the interview and you end up getting an offer, then discuss your concerns with your dad. This conversation will clear the air and allow you to make a decision with less internal tension. And, for what it’s worth, the fact that you’d be more afraid to fail at this company could actually be a good thing, as it would push you to work harder. Good luck on the interview!

Quiz Answer: A. Sandler sales training has been in practice for over fifty years (you can read the source article here)

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Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Erica Furgiuele, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

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