Changing the perception of a salesperson

A guest post by Max Valverde, FareHarbor’s CCO and Head of Sales

When I tell people at parties that I work in sales they’re unsure how to respond. Is this a profession you’re proud of? On a scale from Janitor to Astronaut… how should I be responding here?

It’s understandable though. Arthur Miller and Hollywood would have you believe that sales people are sleazy, scum of the earth types who hate their job. A series of bad life choices led them to the other end of the phone. While there most definitely are seedy sales people selling snake oil, I want to share a different narrative. A story of engineers, Ivy Leaguers, Division I Athletes, who had many choices. And they chose to sell FareHarbor.

FareHarbor provides an online platform and a suite of free marketing services for activity and tour companies. For the sake of brevity, take my word that today FareHarbor has hands down the best platform in the industry. The problem is that for the past 5 years the available platforms abused the market and in turn any faith in reservation software. The booking platforms lacked the base essentials in favor of providing glitchy bells and whistles. Did they never speak with a reservationist or check-in booth prior to development? Many businesses have actually reverted back to pen and paper reservations because “we’ve tried all the different softwares and you all suck.” This is a direct quote:

“In short, [competing reservation software] almost single-handedly destroyed our business.”

No Google Adwords, online marketing, or email campaign could ever repair what these other softwares had done to the market. We could give away free kittens and $100 bills with FareHarbor and activity companies still wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole. It’s that bad. 

The FareHarbor team has seen it first hand from the well over 1,000 accounts what we can do for our clients’ revenue. While it may sound like hyperbole, it’s not uncommon for a client to go live on FareHarbor and see their online revenue double overnight. So we dial to tell business owners about what we’re doing for our clients. But they don’t want to hear it. Every day my team gets called names and is made to feel like dirt; like the salesperson in the movies. The responses get personal - earlier this week someone on my team was called a “worthless fuck.” It can hurt when the insults are directed at my team’s character and it begs the question - why would somebody choose this as a profession? Here’s why. 

What if you had a medicine that’s cured thousands? What if those who needed it refused to talk to you - or worse - what if they thought your medicine was poison? 

If you’re a badass you keep trying. Our team of sales people love a seemingly impossible challenge. Tell them they can’t do something and they’ll show you where you’re wrong. They keep dialing because they believe in what we’re doing. They have seen what we can do… and between the hangups and vitriol, they are somehow able to speak with thousands of companies every week. 

They keep calling because FareHarbor always increases revenue, it always makes happy clients, it always works. And they stay motivated by being truly curious about the industry. They love to hear the different stories - The couple who started an activity company back in the 90s - The business man who quit his job 5 years ago to launch the #1 activity company in his city. They listen to what works for clients and what doesn’t. 

Over time my team began to offer advice from what they had learned. By listening first we are not only changing the market’s perception of what an online booking platform can be… but what a “salesperson” can be. Our team sees tens of thousands of activity websites, engages in detailed analysis of booking metrics, and out of happenstance has become one of the most knowledgeable group of “activity and tour business consultants” in the country (if there is such a thing). The market is beginning to turn to us for advice on check-in flow, online marketing ideas, and how to make next season the biggest ever. They know we have our finger on the pulse of the industry - because we listen first and have the talent to distill what we’re hearing. And slowly, we’ve started to show that we are the opposite of poison.

There’s one line we hear again and again from our happy clients. We hear it every week and it’s the purest form of validation you can receive as a salesperson. 

“thank you for your persistence.”

It reminds me of an abused dog finding a happy home. Sales has a stigma. Online booking has a stigma. My team is changing this one call at a time. They’re showing that there’s no such thing as a dishonest salesperson when you’re selling an honest product.