“After all, this business of selling narrows down to one thing, just one thing, seeing the people. Show me a man of ordinary ability who will go out and earnestly tell his story to four or five people every day, and I will show you a man who just can’t help making good.” ~ Walter LeMar Talbot
This may sound overly simplistic and outdated, but it’s not.
All of the great sales techniques, tips and tactics of the last 50 years are as actionable today as they were in their heyday.
The real goodies lie deep within a quote like this, so let’s dig down and get a few.
“… just one thing, seeing the people.” ~ You aren’t going to be nearly as successful over the phone as you are in person. Email, Twitter and text messages are even weaker, no matter what anybody might try to convince you, it just ain’t so.
What those “tools” allow you to do is “touch” a lot of people very quickly, just not with as much feeling as an in-person presentation.
If you are in the business of day-to-day selling and you forgo the personal visits to text, email and Tweet to your customers, I hope you don’t mind foregoing some profits and some sales.
“… who will go out and earnestly tell his story to four or five people every day …” ~ The real meat from this morsel is in the data you acquire over time, when you make those calls day after day after day after day after, etc.
I have built up a lot of knowledge of what words to use, which one’s to never use, which time is best, when to push, when to give in, etc.
You may think it’s silly to set up and keep that many in person presentations, but the “system” you create, which will be custom-tailored for you, your industry, your ability, your strengths, your weaknesses, etc, will, over time, turn you into a selling machine.
“… and I will show you a man who can’t help making good.” ~ Guaranteed. Period. No if’s and’s or but’s, if you’ll show up, make your presentations and document and learn from every one of those, you will be much better at selling in a fairly short period of time.
The key is to document every, single thing that was said, happened or didn’t happen, so you can create the system that will maximize the next presentation and the next and the next and the next, etc.
If you start out at, say, completing 50% of your presentations into sales and you improve your “system” by 1% every time you make a presentation, you’ll be near 100% in 50 presentations.
Will it work that well every time? Of course not, but it will work a majority of the time and you will get incrementally better, if you learn to ask the right questions, learn to tell better stories and learn to read people like Michelangelo read ceilings.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I once hold a position as a door to door salesman. Almost everyone who dropped out and told me it was too damn easy were spending their days in car, making notes, thinking ways to get through the door, looking for some missed opportunities. All the while the trick to making it was to ring as many bells as possible and talk with the person who opened the door. The more I visited the more I sold.
The golden rule is believe in what you are selling and if the product is good it makes the work easier. By the way Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Book of Genesis ,Creation of Adam is the best known commission of Pope Julius II – 4 year project. Which brings me to the question how do you read potential customers it must be some form of magic?
You found my secret, Dape, it is magic that I use to read potential customers.
The formula is a secret, but you can find it if you look closely at people for 46 years…like I have
Its a kinda Magic. In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. Sorry for taking a long time to respond Mike there is always a need to think before I respond. Happy Christmasmas Dape.