Can you think of a person who exudes charisma and can sell anything to anyone, seemingly almost without effort? Culverhouse Senior Instructor of Marketing and Managing Director of the Sales Program Joe Calamusa (BS, 1996; MBA, 1998) admits it: He’s not that person. By wiring, he is not a natural salesperson. In fact, he considers himself an introvert, and needs to recharge after sustained interactions with people, like his intense teaching load of four sections of Culverhouse’s intro to sales course.
That’s not to say that Calamusa cannot sell. He clearly can. After a little over a decade of success in corporate sales, he returned to Culverhouse as sales program managing director, which is the largest minor in the College, graduating between 250 and 300 students a year, and by that count, larger than some majors. Calamusa is a consummate salesman. But he teaches sales not as a mysterious knack that some have and others do not, but as a learnable science.
“I don’t know that I teach sales,” Calumusa confided. “I teach influential communication. On the first day (of class) we say that sales is the ability — not a characteristic or trait but ability — the ability to persuade someone of the merits of something.”
From Sales to Teaching
The grandson of a Sicilian immigrant who ran a grocery store, Calamusa naturally gravitated toward food sales after his MBA, working first for Mississippi-based Bryan Foods, and then for Tuscaloosa-based Peco Foods. Still, his passion was not so much for the food itself, but for the growth of the company and what that growth would mean for its employees. He understood that if he sold a large contract to Kroger, for instance, that would mean that people on a particular line in the plant would have jobs next year. As he prepared for sales meetings, he was keenly aware of what was at stake, and so he resolved to continue improving at his craft.
In 2009, Culverhouse Professor of Marketing Dr. David Mothersbaugh approached Calamusa about adjunct teaching for Culverhouse once a week. At the time, Calamusa was still traveling for sales meetings. “I started realizing I’m on the plane to do my customer visit somewhere, and instead of preparing for that meeting with that customer, I’m writing next week’s class,” he laughed.
At the same time, business schools were beginning to develop corporate sales programs, and former Culverhouse Dean Dr. Barry Mason asked Calamusa to help develop one. The result was The University of Alabama Sales Program, which teaches over 1,000 students annually, has engaged over 100 corporate sponsors, and provides student scholarships. Its four-course curriculum services over 500 students per semester.
No Merits, No Meeting
Willy Loman, the tragic character in Arthur Miller’s classic play “Death of a Salesman,” believed that the secret to success in sales was being well-liked. But Calamusa knows that charisma and likability are only part of the successful salesperson’s tool kit. Even more importantly, a salesperson should be ethical, making sure whatever they are selling meets a real need for their customer.
“No merits, no meeting. If your [product] doesn’t have any merits to the [customer], then you shouldn’t be sitting in front of them because then you’re not persuading them of anything. You’re manipulating them,” he said.
Moreover, the old model of sales based on friendships, golf games, or shared sports interests is no longer sufficient because there is so much more accountability now in corporate decision-making. “In a modern sales environment, it’s typically insight, not instinct,” Calamusa explained. “It’s typically the provable justifiable reason. And in a time when data is so proliferate, we can use data to prove [a] point. So you’re not going to get out of my sales class without using data.”
It’s a Science
Can Calamusa and his fellow Culverhouse sales instructors build virtually anybody into a good salesperson provided they have the motivation and they follow the science? “Yes,” he said humbly. “All you can do is just reveal the reality.” Calamusa means that the salesperson reveals the reality of the fit between the product and the customer’s needs.
And if it doesn’t work? “Well, I can go home and sleep like a baby,” he said. “I didn’t get the business. I’ll get something tomorrow.”
“I think anybody can reveal reality,” he added.
From Sales to Influence
This December, Calamusa is partnering with Stephanie Lowe and Culverhouse Executive Education to offer an open-enrollment, live, virtual course: “Four Forces for Influence.” The course is designed for anyone who seeks to improve at influencing others, but leaders and managers might especially benefit from it. According to Calamusa, leadership and sales are similar in their dependence upon influence: In sales, you are trying to get someone to buy, while in leadership, you are trying to get them to buy in.
But even those who are not (yet) in formal leadership positions need to get better at influencing. “Because nowadays we’re on so many project teams and collaboration and everything — you know, multi-discipline, multi-department, collaboration projects,” Calamusa explained. “Well, I need to be able to influence Rick in accounting and Helen in HR. So, what we’re trying to do is teach them how to move someone regardless of who that someone is.”
The root of the word “influence” is to “pour into,” so Calamusa uses the metaphor of a soda gun like a bartender uses, pressing a button to pour the proper drink based on what the customer needs. So based on the situation, the would-be influencer chooses what to “pour” into another person: “So you’re pouring into them to change a belief, or change a behavior, or create a belief, or create a behavior,” he said. “And so, how do you pour into them? Well, there’s four forces, or four options, that you can use to pour into somebody: information, instruction, inspiration, or innovation.”
“And so that’s what they’ll learn from the class,” he said. “What’s available to me? How do I do each one? And then how do I figure out which one to do?”
Interested participants can register for the course here.