What Can a Drag Queen Teach Sales Professionals?
Last night I stayed up late to watch the final episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race on Logo. For those of you not familiar with the program, drag queens compete for the title of America’s Next Drag Super Star. (The Queen likes her reality television and is always interested in the lives of other queens.) It’s hosted by RuPaul and the judges are Santino Rice (Project Runway) and, Merle Ginsberg (fashion journalist) and of course, RuPaul. Guest judges sit in from time to time. The contestants compete in categories like Runway, Realness, Glam etc.
Last evening, after crowing American’s Next Drag Super Star, a lovely queen from Cameroon, (who said she started doing drag when she got to the airport in this country), they brought all of the contestants back for a Roundup session. The lovely ladies got to dish and share their experiences of being on the show.
At some point RuPaul decided to turn the tables and have the contestants critique the judges. Several of the ladies became very emotional about the level of criticism they felt they had endured from the judges. They felt much of the criticism was unfounded and cruel. One of the queens said that she chose to be eliminated rather than continue on and face the harsh criticism.
RuPaul, a very wise Queen, said, “Ladies, you are all fabulous. That’s why you were picked to be on this show. Criticism, anyone’s criticism, cannot make you not fabulous. The problem is not that you were criticized harshly, the problem is that you all forgot that you are fabulous.”
She then went on to point out that in her journey many told her it would be impossible to be a drag super star with a recording contract and her own television show.
So what can a sales professional learn from RuPaul? Simply this: You are fabulous. Even with a difficult economy, you are fabulous. Use your brains, and creativity and your determination to keep moving forward (stilettos optional). No one—not even prospects, customers or managers--no one can make you not fabulous.
Wendy Weiss, The Queen of Cold Calling, is an author, speaker, sales trainer, and sales coach. She is recognized as one of the leading authorities on lead generation, cold calling and new business development and she helps clients speed up their sales cycle, reach more prospects directly and generate more sales revenue. Her clients include Avon Products, ADP, Sprint and thousands of entrepreneurs throughout the country.
Wendy has been featured in the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, Selling Power, Sales & Marketing Management and various other business and sales publications. She is also a featured author in two recently released books, Masters of Sales and Top Dog Sales Secrets.
She is the author of the book, Cold Calling for Women and has also created numerous self-study programs including Cold Calling College, The Miracle Appointment-Setting Script and Getting Past the Palace Guard.
Wendy is also a former ballet dancer who believes that everything she knows in life she learned in ballet class.