Shit my boss says

"Here, let me turn my moron hat around."

The Art of Selling Part III

The 5 C's.

Clean
Courteous
Consistent
Convenient
Competitive

Shit my boss says

"Unfortunately for you, I woke up this morning and had a fucking brain."

The Art of Selling Part II

A lot of people in the sales industry will tell you that there's no magic words that can net you more sales. We sell a higher quality product where I work, and that of course means higher prices. Customers often get beligerant when you tell them the list price. "I can get it way cheaper elsewhere." "You guys are ripping people off." etc. I took the approach of simply explaining how our product was superior to theirs but that had a low success rate. My boss explained it to me that when I did that, it felt like that I was being a snob to them. That I felt I was superior to the other dealer and/or the customer themselves.

So he taught me the three F's. Feel, Felt, Found. These three words help you identify the customer, especially when used like this:

I know how you feel
I felt the same way
Then I found out

You don't say that phrase exactly, but you use that as a basis. For instance, if you're selling computers and trying to compete against Dell with custom built machines you might say something like:

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. When I first started working here I thought that they were outrageously priced because I could go to a mass retailer and buy them much cheaper. Then after I checked them out and really took some time to learn about them I realized that the people who build those computers don't really care about how they put them together, they just want to shove them out as fast as they can. Our people take pride in how much care goes into each individual machine.

Dreaming

The great Taoist master Chuang Tzu once dreamt that he was a butterfly fluttering here and there. In the dream he had no awareness of his individuality as a person. He was only a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and found himself laying there, a person once again. But then he thought to himself, "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?"

Kurt Vonnegut

I thought about this post all day. What I would say, how I would say it. What words could possibly convey the sadness I felt for the death of this great man. I thought about quoting some of his work and talking about how it applied to my life and how he had helped me. But then I realized there was only one thing I really needed to say to Kurt for everything he had given both me and the world.

Thank you.

The Art of Selling Part 1

In order to be successful, you must sell 3 things for every sale you make. First, you must sell yourself, then you must sell your business, and then you sell your product.