Thank Goodness It's Monday #418

12 STEPS TO IRRESISTIBLE SALES POWER

 

Wow! Last week’s TGIM (#417) really clicked with you guys. The feedback has been rewarding. 

 

And I thank you for it. It’s made me think that perhaps further review of some “classic” sales strategies might be mutually beneficial.

So I’m going to try again -- inspired by you all and especially the recent outreach from an old publishing acquaintance who recalled a memo we both received in – gulp! -- 1971.

Richard Prentice Ettinger
 

The memo writer’s name may be familiar to you. Or at least part of it.

Richard Prentice Ettinger.

From time to time I have alluded to RPE (as he was known) and his protégé and my early boss Richard Neill (and, yup, he was tagged RN and I was GS) here.

RPE built Prentice-Hall, Inc. from a struggling two-person outfit in 1913 into a publishing giant with annual sales in excess of $120 million when he died in ‘71. (By some calculations that’s equivalent to roughly $2 Billion today).

 

Clearly --

 

He knew something useful about selling. And those of us who were fortunate enough to have worked for him/with him would regularly receive some resurrected and re-released memos he had penned across the decades to guide our thinking and behavior.

 

 I’d like to share one with you. As I said, my version is from 1971. Its origins could go back as far as, perhaps, 1913.

 

It’s classic RPE. But by 21^st Century standards the language – bosses assumed to be “him” … receptionists assumed to be “her” … sales “man” -- may be distracting. 

 

Don’t be diverted or misled. I think RPE was simply profit-focused and didn’t think that he was being sexist, just generic. In 1971 a good, well-respected part of the Prentice-Hall sales force and upper level staff were women.

This is powerful stuff. In its day this memo was distributed by managers throughout the organization to employees at all levels – editors, design and production personnel, the operational folks, maintenance crews, printers, financial types, cafeteria staff -- not just to “salesmen.”

The instruction to the management level was:

“See that your people keep the basic rules always in sight.”

 

I guess it was effective. When I was reminded of it, I was able to dig back and find my 40⁺ -year-old copy which I will share with you – word for word – now:

 

***

12 Steps To Irresistible Sales Power

No matter how long a man’s been selling, or what sales tricks he can call on during his presentation, his success boils down to the use of basics.

 

1. Don’t let the receptionist turn you away. You’ve got to get past her if you expect to make the sale. Convince her that what you have to offer could mean a big cost-saving for her company.
2. Know how to sell an appointment. You must sell that before you can sell a product. The harder a man is to see, the better a customer he is likely to become.
3. Get the facts. Before you attempt to sell a prospect anything, find out what he wants or what he needs. Then find a way to fill that need.
4. Sell time and/or money and/or avoidance of trouble. Show the prospect how he can save time. Show him how he can increase his profits by using your products.
5. Be brief, confident, positive. Don’t stoop to knocking the competition. Sell your product on what it CAN do, not what the other product allegedly can’t.
6. Present information honestly. Avoid tricks, exaggeration. Or false claims. Be ready to back up your claims. There is nothing more convincing than the truth.
7. Answer questions. Get the prospect involved. By answering your questions, the customer helps to sell himself.
8. Field any objections cheerfully. Chart the answers in advance. The prospect who voices objections is “ventilating” in preparation to buying.
9. Be a name dropper. If big and successful companies have enough confidence in your product to use it, their confidence can inspire others to buy.
10. Know how to spot a buying signal. Be alert when the customer asks to take another look at the product or when he asks about delivery. He’s really saying, “I’ll take it – ask me.”
11. Don’t wait for the order. Ask for it. Then when you get it, escalate it. Many a salesman walks away without an order simply because he didn’t ask for it.
12. Don’t be discouraged by a call that ends up without a sale. Failure’s not a signal to give up; it’s a signal to work harder. Use the events of the meeting to cement your relationship so you can prepare for the next call.

IMPORTANT: Don’t blame the prospect when you lose a sale. Consider what you did wrong – or what you failed to do.

And profit by your experience.

***

Wow! (again). That’s a real blast from the past for me. A true golden oldie, full of significance and emotion -- if a little light on precisely how-to-do-it.

 

But, of course, Prentice-Hall and its subsidiaries published many now legendary books and seminal authors with sales and self-improvement substance. Norman Vincent Peale … Frank Bettger … Elmer Wheeler … Charles Roth … Maxwell Maltz … W. Clement Stone.

Woe betide any sales-minded, would-be career employee who didn’t become familiar with the substantial content set down by these luminaries in their classic guides.

 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Always be learning. Always be building your skills and your library. Get wisdom. And get understanding.  Put what you acquire into practice.

Finally: Share your successes as we try to do via this TGIM. 

 

Hope you “profited by this experience.”  I’m looking forward to sharing more next Monday – if not sooner.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. “I still work hard to know my business. I'm continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I'm always selling. Always.” Celebrity “shark” and businessman, investor, and philanthropist Mark Cuban said that.