Simple Stupid Stuff

I give many examples so you can see how things are done in the real world, and that things I show you in this book are not just textbook ideas.  They are practices and techniques that I have used over many years that have proven successful for me.

One final example that I would like to give you is not really an unorthodox method of gaining business, but is one that many people don’t use.  That is working with your spouse or significant other to help build relationships with customers.  When your wife or husband becomes friends with your customers’ wives or husbands, the benefits can be great.  You would be amazed at how much influence wives have, for example, in their husbands’ business decisions.  Get your wife and his wife to become friends, and watch the business relationship improve and grow!  The ladies in our lives often positively affect business decisions we make.  Often, we men like to think we are the strong leaders who make all the decisions, but our wives sometimes encourage us to make certain decisions.  If the wives become friends, not only have we increased our number of friends in this world, but we have also gained a business ally.  Likewise for the ladies whose husbands become friends. 

I employed this technique for one of Los Angeles’ largest cooling system distributors that I was trying hard to win.  We had a fair amount of their radiator business, but did not have their air conditioning condenser business.  After several sales calls to discuss air conditioning condensers with no success, I chose to get the families together.  I arranged for Nick (my customer) and his wife and young son to meet my wife, son, daughter and me for dinner at a nice restaurant in Palmdale, California, where his business was.  The ladies sat across from each other, the kids sat across from each other, and I sat across from Nick.  The ladies were chatting, the kids were enjoying one another’s company, and Nick and I were having good conversation as well.  We discussed very little business; we mostly discussed the news of the day and sports.  Toward the end of the meal, as the discussion turned toward business, I asked what it would take to get the condenser business we had been working on, and he told me to go to his store the next morning and he would give me the order – over 300 condensers, amounting to nearly $30,000.  He was going to buy the condensers from someone anyway, because he had already pre-sold them to an account overseas.  But it was that little, additional special touch that got the business.  The $150 I spent for dinner that night became a $30,000 order the very next morning.  That, by any standard of measurement, is a very good investment.  Not bad for an evening of friendship building! 

You Owe It to Your Prospects!

As I share the philosophy that you should approach your prospects with a possible solution to a situation in their businesses rather than being just a salesperson, I want to emphasize the concept that you owe it to your prospects to share the good news of what you have to offer.  Don’t look at it as just a selling situation; rather, consider yourself on a mission.  People live in far away lands to work in the mission fields for their churches because they have a mission to accomplish, and they feel they owe it to the people of those countries.  This “owe it to them” feeling creates a determination to continue in the face of all adversities. 

What you are doing is no different in the business sense.  Your prospects may be happy with what they are currently using or with the company from which they are currently buying, but they may not even know what you have to offer.  They may not know how much you can help them save by using your products or services, or that your company’s customer service is far superior to the company they are already using.  Face this fact:  If your prospect overspends $5,000 or $10,000 per year because you did not get your message to him, you personally have cost him $50,000 to $100,000 over a ten-year period. 

When you understand this and get it in your fiber, you will more likely be professionally persistent with prospects who won’t give you the time of day.  You should find creative ways of getting your information in front of them, whether it is by leaving “leave-behind” brochures for them to read after you leave, or by a follow up call to continue trying to get in the door.  You have something they need, and will help them greatly!  Get your message heard, and become a lifelong friend in the process!  I would have never gotten the Anchorage business mentioned earlier if I didn’t get my message in front of the prospect, which showed him how to save thousands of dollars per year!  I also would have never made some great friends as a result.