Here is how to improve your sales skills: THINK FIRST! Sounds elementary, doesn’t it? But apparently it isn’t. Let me tell you what happened recently to a dynamic retired couple I know. You need an appointment just to have a cup of coffee with Brad and Brenda. That’s how busy they are. After years of fulltime careers and parenting, they now spend their days exactly the way they always wanted to but couldn’t. When Brad dug up their entire Texas Privet hedge in a single day a couple of weeks ago, he wrenched his back. Along with physical therapy his doctor suggested brief relaxation breaks. “Do you have a recliner at home?” the doctor asked.
“A recliner? Never did,” Brad admitted. “But if you think it would help my back, we’ll get one,” he added. After mulling it over with Brenda later that day, they agreed to purchase not one, but two recliners and headed for a furniture store. Amber, the sweet saleslady, was all smiles. She encouraged the pair to try out some floor models, and soon a nearly perfect specimen was located. The chair was sturdy, comfortable, and stylish. But it had one drawback. Brenda did not like the shade of the fabric.
“No problem,” Amber was quick to point out. “The chairs can be ordered in any number of colors and fabrics.” Sure enough, Brenda spotted a nice earth-tone swatch in the sample book, and in short order the deal was about to be clinched. That’s when Amber “excelled” with her sales skills. “You’ll be so glad you bought these chairs,” she gushed. “It might be the last major furniture purchase you’ll ever make.”
How do you think Brad and Brenda, our dynamic retired couple, reacted? Do you think they purchased the recliners? Do you think they’ll ever go back to that furniture store? Do you think Amber will be able to sell ice to the Eskimos? THINK FIRST, Amber. Practice some empathy.
Re-reading this article in 2020 after four years of Donald Trump as president of the United States, I have experienced a paradigm shift (a fundamental change in underlying assumptions). In 2013, I believed that Amber’s insensitivity to her customers’ needs made her an ineffective sales representative. But if Donald Trump was able to sell his notion of democracy to 72 million Americans in 2020 and barely lose the election, then maybe Amber could sell ice to the Eskimos after all. What do you think?
How to Improve Your Sales Skills – Do you Need to? www.walled.in.berlin.com
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
