But they have no sales process
A lot of service business owners make the same hiring mistake.
They hire someone for sales or route marketing because the person is friendly, outgoing, well-liked, and “great with people.” That sounds good.
It can also be a trap wearing a golf shirt or a short skirt.
Being a people person is nice. It helps. Nobody wants a route marketer who walks into an office with the warmth of a tax audit. But friendliness is not a sales process. A big smile is not a strategy.
A firm handshake does not fill a pipeline. And being able to talk to anyone does not mean you know how to move a prospect toward doing business.
Social butterflies are often very comfortable being busy. They visit people. They chat. They laugh. They drop off treats. They remember names. They get invited behind the front desk. Everybody likes them.
Then the owner looks at the numbers and realizes something painful. The phone is not ringing. That is when “activity” and “productivity” have to stop pretending they are cousins.
Route marketing is not paid socializing. It is business development. The goal is not to be known. The goal is to become trusted, useful, remembered, and referred. Those are different things.
A true sales process gives a marketer direction. It tells them who to target, why that target matters, what questions to ask, what problems to uncover, what next step to request, how to follow up, and how to measure whether the relationship is moving forward or just being politely maintained.
Without that process, a marketer usually defaults to whatever feels easiest. And, sadly, most marketers don’t instinctively or intuitively know this. They need a coach to teach them.
They revisit friendly accounts too often. They avoid harder conversations. They talk to whoever will listen instead of qualifying who can actually refer. They mistake laughter for loyalty. They leave without a next step. They say, “Just checking in,” which is sales language for “I didn’t prepare anything useful today.”
A good route marketer must do more than be likable. They must be intentional.
They need to know how to ask better questions. They need to identify pain, frustration, risk, urgency, and opportunity. They need to understand the difference between a pleasant contact and a real referral source. They need to document conversations, schedule follow-up, track results, and stop wasting time on accounts that will happily take the donuts but never send a dime’s worth of business.
The danger of hiring only for personality is that it feels right at first. The new marketer is energetic. People seem to enjoy them. The owner hears positive comments like, “She’s so nice,” or “He’s really easy to talk to.” But “nice” does not pay payroll.
Sales require structure. Route marketing requires discipline. Relationships matter, but relationships without direction become expensive friendships.
The best route marketers are not just social. They are curious. They are organized. They are persistent without being annoying. They bring value to every visit. They ask thoughtful questions. They know when to move forward, when to back off, and when to stop chasing a dead account.
A people person can become a great marketer, but only if personality is paired with process. Hire the smile if you want. Just make sure there is a solid financial strategy behind it.
Dick Wagner 419-202-6745 Dick@AskDickWagner.com
Nationally recognized coach, consultant, trainer, and speaker
Creator of the renowned PREP™ pre-disaster program
Creator of the “Marketing Genius Podcast”
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