Hello world! I’m sure
that all of you are just as tired as I am after watching the Grammys late into
the evening last night… Just
kidding. I actually am not a big fan of
the awards shows. However, I do have
four and six year old girls that love Taylor Swift, we tape the show and fast
forward through all of the boring parts (Everything but Taylor Swift dancing
and the performances) – what can I say, life is about compromises. However, as I was “watching” fast forwarding
through the show I couldn’t stop thinking about Daft Punk (probably because
they kept panning to two guys dressed like robots in tuxedos) and why they were
successful.
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| I would totally do this if I didn't work exclusively on the phone... |
Obviously their music plays a part in it. However, it goes farther than that and I
think that a large part of their success comes from their marketing
skills. Below are four things that you
can learn from Daft Punk and adapt to your sales career. Before that , I thought I’d share a little
bit about Daft Punk (credit to Wikipedia for all of the facts) for those of you that are less, how should we
say it, cool…
Daft Punk is a duo of two French musicians named Guy-Manuel
de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The
two started as part of another band that was thrashed by critics, one of whom
called the band a “brand of dafty punk.”
The two broke off and created their own band and created personas where
they are only seen in public dressed as robots.
They have had considerable success culminating in multiple Grammys last
night. So what can you learn from Daft
Punk?
1. Create a Brand
Let me first start by saying that you shouldn’t become the sales
robot – it might be cool but it probably won’t work. That said I think that great deal of Daft
Punk’s success comes from the fact that they have created a recognizable
persona. They dress as robots and don’t
talk. This creates instant
recognition.
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| If you are going to dress like a robot, you might a well look good! |
There are others even more
successful than the robots that have done this.
Have you ever thought about what Steve Jobs wore? If you don’t remember, one of the many things
Jobs was known for was that he wore a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans and a black
turtleneck every day for at least the
last ten years of his life. When asked
about it Jobs gave the following answer:
On a trip to Japan in the early 1980s, Jobs asked Sony's
chairman Akio Morita why everyone in the company's factories wore uniforms. He
told Jobs that after the war, no one had any clothes, and companies like Sony
had to give their workers something to wear each day. Over the years, the
uniforms developed their own signatures styles, especially at companies such as
Sony, and it became a way of bonding workers to the company. "I decided
that I wanted that type of bonding for Apple," Jobs recalled.
Sony, with
its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to
create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that
could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Issey Miyake and asked him to
design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, "I came back with some samples and
told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I
get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea."
In the process, however, he became friends with Miyake and would
visit him regularly. He also came to like the idea of having a uniform for
himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and
its ability to convey a signature style. "So I asked Issey to make me some
of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of
them." Jobs noticed my surprise when he told this story, so he showed them
stacked up in the closet. "That's what I wear," he said. "I have
enough to last for the rest of my life." - Credit
goes to Gawker
So aside from dressing like a robot or a genius CEO, how do
you build your brand? It’s pretty
simple, look at your skills and find out what sets you apart – then sell it!
2. Keep it Simple
Apart from the branding some of Daft Punks success comes
from its simplicity. Their music usually
consists of a really catchy beat that is repeated over and over again. One of their most famous songs actually is
just the words “Around the world” repeated over and over again. This too can be applied to your sales
career. Early on in my career I worked
for a large national, staffing firm that offered the best guarantee in the industry
at the time. To be fair it was a great
guarantee. However the company pushed me
hard to sell it. The result was always negligible
– why? Because customers didn’t care
about the guarantee – it didn’t solve their problem. One of the biggest
problems I see with sales professionals is that they try to offer too
much. Potential customers want one thing
– a solution! Many people try to throw
in all of the bells and whistles that end up drowning out the solution – it doesn’t
work.
3. Be Creative
Daft Punk is definitely a group of artists. Because of their persona as robots that don’t
speak they can’t make a traditional music video. This led to some really cool and unique
videos including a mini movie directed by Spike Jonez set to their song and a
part of an actual animated movie for another.
The key here is that they looked at their limitations (again the whole
not talking thing – probably not a good brand for sales) and created something
unique that made it a strength. From a
sales standpoint I thinkt hat this really comes down to innovation. For those of you that don’t know - Invention is the creation of things and
innovation is augmenting existing things to make it profitable. In my opinion, innovation is way better. So be creative! Look at what others are doing and find a way
to make it better and your own!
4. Collaborate
Daft Punk’s biggest hit, Get Lucky, isn’t just Daft
Punk. Instead it is a collaboration with
a guy by the name of Pharrell Williams.
Pharell is a sometimes performer
that also produces records and has won multiple Grammys (He is also the guy
behind the other hit of the year this year – Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke).
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| Couldn't show a picture from "Blurred Lines"... |
In short he is someone that touches things
and it turns to gold. Often times sales people
are lone wolves that don’t like to play well with others. However, collaborating with others can make
you way more successful as a salesperson.
Why? It gives you fresh ideas, a
different perspective, and the ability to brainstorm. You will be more successful if you
collaborate with others from time to time.
Sadly, some sales organizations don’t promote this and sometimes
prohibit collaboration. If you are in a
company likes this… maybe you should be
looking elsewhere.
Check
out some of my recent articles on the blog here:
