Thursday, January 17, 2008

Sales lessons – my souvenir from Mexico

During the holidays I had a chance to take a short vacation in Cancun Mexico. Upon arrival I quickly was forced to deal with various types of sales people with a diverse range of techniques. And as any good entrepreneur would (or should), I began to pay attention and learn.

Imagine an endless row of stores all selling pretty much the same products, as a sales person how do you have a customer buy from you and not the guy next door? Now imagine you are selling a $20,000+ time share - and so are about a 100 other people in a 100 yard radius - and you have a few minutes while a tourist is walking by to open and no more than a few days to close. How do you do it?

After observing a significant number of data points (and it is not difficult as you can … yes, imagine again), here is some key learning:

  1. Stay observant and you can build a relationship in under a minute - it pays.
  2. Quality is a perception and price is not as important as most sales people think.
  3. You must ask for the order.
  4. It is not about sales pipeline or funnels - it is about real transactions and exchange of payment.
  5. Don’t be afraid to negotiate.
  6. Every sale matters – it is a matter of eating that night.
  7. Dead lines are important in closing