So lately I’ve been hearing a lot about this concept of “selling” things to Law Enforcement. I’ve been asked for advice several times on the best way to sell a product or a service and it has caused me to put some serious thought into the subject. Now I must say that I’m not a sales guy of any sort but I have a pretty dang good idea of what a police officer is looking for when you sit down across the table.
I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the lessons my father, grandfather, and mentors taught me as I was growing up. I was raised around command staff, private sector C-staff, and the like and if I’ve learned anything from that environment it’s that they’re ‘human’ too. They make decisions they’re not sure about, things happen that are outside of their control, they vent to the few friends their position has allowed them to keep, and sometimes they’re just plain wrong. They’re just like us.
What sets C-staff apart from us low guys on the totem pole is that they spend all of their time making decisions that impact a large number of people. That is especially true in public safety; their decisions impact the officers, the organization, the municipality, and the citizens at large. So when they get things wrong it’s not just their job that they are worrying about, it’s the men and women that serve the common cause, it’s our citizens, and bad decisions can be deadly.
Now in every industry, brass is brass, white shirts are white shirts (or hats, as it may be), and everybody knows when the boss is in the office. But there’s one thing that sets public safety miles apart from C-Staff in the public sector; before they got to be Chief they spent a lot of years where the metal meets the flesh. They made decisions on a regular basis that may have determined a person’s life or death, and it’s a safe bet there’s a time or two when they were that person.
These men and women know what is important and what is trivial. It’s probably a little bit different from the way a majority of the private sector views it. A bad sales day, a demotion, or a disciplinary action, are bad days for a lot of people. They’re bad days from cops too but none of that matters when you get home to your wife and kids… because you actually got to go home.
Everyday there’s people that don’t go home and it’s our police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and 911 operators that handle those morbid situations. We do it so our citizens and the private sector don’t have to and, if not we then who? That acceptance of responsibility, the fact that many people will never have those experiences is where the communication barrier exists.
Now when was the last time you had a car explode in your face, rain hot acid down on your head, then say just say heck with it and keep going?
I know that was all a little dramatic but it’s a reality. The mindset that being exposed to those scenarios causes is what you’re facing when you sit across the table from a policeman. It doesn’t matter where the table is, the interrogation room, the conference room, (and for many) the kitchen, or the living room. You’re dealing with someone who has lived through and seen worse situations than the writers at CSI can air on TV and doesn’t have time for the horsehocky.
So, how do you sell to law enforcement if you don’t have those experiences and can’t communicate on that level?
Let me again say that I’m not a sales person, this is just they way I’ve seen it. I could be wrong and you should certainly validate my research, but I’ve seen a lot of people fail and it was all for the same reasons.
Most companies have a “government sales” division with former operators that do a fantastic job and should be selling to law enforcement all the time. But, as I’ve experience recently, they don’t always get engaged early enough if at all. If you have a government sales division, stop reading here and turn it over to those guys.
For everyone else, the easiest way to win a cop over is to just tell the truth and learn the phrase “I don’t know but I’ll find out”. I’m not harping on the sales guys (Well… there was this one used car salesman but that’s a different story!) but over selling a product or service and selling something you’re not intimately familiar with is a frequent occurrence.
Let me tell you, if you sit down across the table from a policeman, you are going to be interrogated… especially if you are trying to take the money his citizens gave him. So have your ducks in a row, know your product, and be prepared to find the same answers the police officers already have.
Before you even start the conversation you should realize that everything you say is going to be use against you, right now and in future discussions. And depending on if your talking to the “good cop” or the “bad cop” (if they’re both there… well… that’s just bad) they’re going to call you on the BS too.
One of my father’s favorite quotes about salesmen is this, “I think of salesmen like I think of my confidential drug informants. If I take what they say and divide it by ten then I’m still over estimating how much they’re giving me.” It’s true, and it’s not acceptable for a police officer. They are going to take action on the information you provide and, depending on the product and what you’ve said, it could really save someone’s life or get someone killed.
Going back half a step, seeking truth is an integral part of administering justice and police officers do it every day. They are very good at it. They will put you in a position where you don’t have an answer, just to see if you’ll fabricate something. They will know when your product isn’t what they need and ask who has something that’s better. And you better not BS them, they probably have that answer too. (Anybody that watches Law & Order should know cops don’t ask questions they don’t have answers to!)
The best bet is to send a sales team comprised of good sales guys (not FNGs, Fantastic New Guys), have a techie for the hard questions, and a “ gun-toter” (a police officer, prior service, infantry is good, etc.) for a point man. The idea is that you want the front man to be someone that the police officer is going to look up to. You also have to be prepared to give completely honest answers and, although it may be gut wrenching, it may be necessary to recommend products that are not your own.
I’ll say that most of the time you’re going to walk into a meeting with a group of police officers and they’re going to expect and accept a sales pitch. Well, that I suppose that can be good for business but if you don’t have something that’s entirely unique and that sales pitch carries the wrong tune it’s going to be pretty tough to get the sale. Especially if your competitor has a government sales department!
Ultimately you’re trying to build a relationship with the client and the way you go about that is [apparently] entirely different with law enforcement. They’re goals are not the same as yours and it is you, the sales team, who must adapt and overcome. You must have integrity and be honest. Be the type of person a police officer can trust. If you are trustworthy they will work with you. Most of the people they interact with are liars, cheats, and thieves. And so are the criminals.
