Crap smells good, right?

My first real sales job
was as an encyclopedia salesman back in the late '70's. We didn't call ourselves salesmen, we were marketing reps! Salespeople are bad and pushy and only care about themselves. Our pitch was simple for the prospects to understand. It went as follows:

We worked for a marketing company which offered a $4,000, 40 VOLUME, MASTER REFERENCE LIBRARY at a greatly reduced, almost give-away price to a select few couples if they were fortunate enough to "qualify."

In order to qualify for this special program they had to prove they were educationally minded and agree to write a testimonial letter for use in our advertising.

Of course, the real reason we wanted them
to answer the qualifying questions was to
build value.

"I'm sure you can see why we call this a MASTER REFERENCE LIBRARY!
"Which books of the set do you think you would use the most Mrs Jones?"
"And you Mr. Jones, which books would you use the most Mr. Jones?"

With each answer they moved closer to owning a new set of encyclopedias.

"Mr. and Mrs Jones, if you were accepted into our program it is extremely important that this LIBRARY be displayed in a prominent place so your friends and neighbors could see it. Where exactly would you display this 40 volume MASTER REFERENCE LIBRARY?"

The prospects were so concerned with "qualifying" that they would happily explain what a wonderful resource this would be to have in their home and how they would get tremendous use out of it, and how they would even install new, glass bookshelves so the world could see their 40 VOLUME MASTER REFERENCE LIBRARY.

All of this, of course, was a

complete bunch of crap

but it was an extremely effective tool. Why would you bother trying to qualify for something unless you really wanted it.

Creating the want

is the most important

thing in sales.

I would explain that as a marketing company what my company did was similar to what Proctor & Gamble does by giving away sample tubes of toothpaste, except you can’t hang a 40 VOLUME, MASTER REFERENCE LIBRARY on their doorknob. If they answered the qualifying questions correctly, only then would we be able to accept them into this specially discounted program. This program was so special they could easily afford it for only what they would spend daily on the 4 C’s - Cigarettes, Cola, Coffee, and Candy. Hey, I said it was the late seventy’s. We even provided them with a calendar bank so each night they could drop their spare change in the bank, watch the date change, and by the end of the month there would be more than enough for the $29 monthly payment.

It all worked out to about $800 not including interest which was tons of money back then. We worked out of Washington, DC and every night our field manager would drive us to “the area”. The area was different every night but it was always an apartment complex, housing development, or trailer park that the field manager had scouted earlier with an eye out for swing sets and big wheels - both sure signs of kids who desperately needed the benefits of a 40 VOLUME MASTER REFERENCE LIBRARY. If you found these tell tale signs and noticed out of state licence plates then you probably struck GOLD. Off base military housing where pay grade E4 or higher was an automatic credit approval! We were dropped off and with our plastic briefcase in one hand we would start knocking doors with the other.

My first sales manager Al used to say it doesn’t matter what you say; it’s how you say it. You know, there is a lot of truth in that. He would say if you had a smile on your face and nodded your head up and down, people would agree with almost anything.

Try it sometime. Look at someone, start nodding your head up and down,
smile and then say

“Shit smells good, don’t it?”

It takes quite a bit of control for them not to just go along and agree. Here’s a piece of gold. If your customer understands you and believes you then they’ll buy. If you miss one of those elements, they won’t.

You see, Al knew what he was talking about. People want to go along. If people clearly understand you and if they believe what you are saying then they will readily agree. This makes the job of a sales professional so much easier. People love to agree with a point they understand. People want to acquire stuff. They love it. Who doesn’t like owning something new?

The problem is that people don't enjoy spending money without what they perceive as proper justification. It can be painful and folks need to be reassured that they are making a good decision. This is why you must be understood and believable.

Sometimes salespeople just get in the way of the sale and make it difficult for the prospect to say "yes"'. One of the most common ways of getting in the way of the sale is by talking too fast. If you speak too fast then many prospects will stop trying to keep up. They will probably stop believing what you are saying if they are not comprehending all of it. Salespeople talk too fast and we make it sound like something sinister is going on even when it’s not.

Here’s the key to helping your prospect understand and believe you so they are comfortable buying from you so you can make a lot of money.

Ready.....TALK SLOWER.

“Wait a minute" you say. “I’m not one of those slick, fast talking salesmen.”
Well there you go getting defensive and not listening. I'll repeat myself.

SLOW THE F**K DOWN.

You say “But if I slow down then they might give me some objection or start questioning something from earlier and I’ll lose the sale.” I'll give you the key one more time. Just slow down and if you get an objection then respond to it in a slow, almost (but not quite) condescending manner. Be glad they asked the question because you know that sooner or later it was bound to bite you in the butt.

Remember they have to ask questions – it’s all part of the process. Many times they don’t really care about the answer. Many times they are just asking questions to appear as if they are doing their due diligence but all they really care about is the manner in which you respond to them. Practice: nod your head up and down, smile, and say “Shit smells good, don’t it?”

A quick, little encyclopedia story. We used to do as part of the demo what was called the “pros talk” –short for prospectus. We’d take out this impressive volume which contained different sections from the entire set of encyclopedias. We would show the transparent overlays of the human body. Everyone always liked that. At one point we would show how the pages were non-glare and certainly better than a glossy, glaring finish because it reduced eye strain.

One of my fellow salesmen at this juncture would stop his pros talk, raise his head from the book and look at his prospect directly in the eye. He would place his finger just below his eye and gently pull down to expose the inner workings of the eye socket. With sincerity dripping from every pore of his body he would start nodding his head up and down and say “You know, it’s been proven in several medical studies that a glaring, light reflecting page surface can actually burn out the retinas in your eyes.” The amazing thing about it was that everyone could see how that made sense. They would nod their heads up and down and hope like hell that they could qualify for this amazing set of books.

If you enjoyed this post or if you hated this post, I would really appreciate any and all comments.