Many years ago when I was starting a new career in sales, my father took me aside. He shared three stories that were inspirational and offered me a unique attitude toward selling.
Aside from selling a product the client needs, it is, of course, important to ensure that the client not only buys but feels good about the purchase. That is the key to successful selling.
In his book “The One Minute Salesperson,” Spencer Johnson wrote, “I have more financial success and fun when I think less about what I want and more about how to help a client gain what they want.”
The first story is about an auto manufacturer in Great Britain. Every year there would be intense salary negotiations between management and the union representative. Every year, the same thing occurred. The union would ask for 5 percent, management would offer 2 percent. They would settle at 3 percent.
One year the union representative went to the annual meeting with his proposals, as printed by his secretary, under his arm. He was surprised to find the president and also the CFO at the meeting, which usually never happened. He was met with a warm handshake followed by a lengthy presentation about the overall unprofitability of the company, their plans and investments for the future of the company and how they could not possibly offer the pay increase that the union was asking for. The best they could do was to offer a 9 percent increase.
Thanks for the Typo
Taken aback, the union rep immediately reviewed his proposal, wondering what was wrong. Then he saw what had happened. His secretary, in typing the proposal had made a typo. Instead of asking for 5 percent, she had mistyped and put in 15 percent.
The union rep continued to negotiate, and they settled on a 13 percent pay increase. The rep realized that for all these years he had limited himself in what to ask for. Now, due to the typo, he was committed to negotiating with the new figures. He learned not to limit his thinking, but to expand and to ask for more than he would reasonably expect to gain. By allowing himself to negotiate downward, he came away with a figure that never had been achieved.
The second story involved a New York City borough asking for bids to demolish an old sewage plant. The By only sought the cost of the demolition since the government would dispose of the rubble after the demolition at further considerable expense.
All six bids ranged from $2 million to $3 million. Five minutes before deadline, they received one final bid. The offer: One penny.
After calling the company to make sure the offer was genuine, the borough chose it. When the demolition was completed ahead of schedule, the borough was delighted.
As for the shrewd penny company, they sold all the scrap metal from the demolished plant for $3.5 million.
The final story involved a company dependent upon a particular boiler to power its production line. When the boiler stopped working, it caused considerable problems for the owner, including meeting their production quotas. The owner called in a boilermaker with a strong reputation for solving breakdowns.
Knowing Where Is a Big Deal
The repairman walked around for 10 minutes until he came upon the key valve. Removing a small hammer, he rapped hard against the valve. The boiler immediately began working. It has not failed since.
A week later the company owner received the boilermaker’s bill.
Boiling mad, he called the boilermaker to complain that his $1,000 bill was excessive, considering he had only been there for 15 minutes.
The owner demanded an itemized breakdown. The boilermaker was happy to oblige.
For tapping with hammer — .50
For knowing where to tap — $999.50
Total $1000
Know what you are doing. Have confidence. Never sell yourself short.
A clinical hypnotherapist, handwriting analyst and expert master hypnotist, Nicholas Pollak may be contacted at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net