Page 155 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

151 Quick Ideas to Get New Customers

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Decide Not to Sell

Many amateur salespeople think every sales call must be
an attempt to make a sale. Experienced professionals know
that oftentimes there is a great deal of research, investigation,
and diagnosis necessary before they can possibly think about

closing the deal.

The owner of a service

company was really nice to Assignment

the salesperson each time Probe, look, and listen.
she stopped by. However, he Be patient. Find your com-
claimed he was getting the petitive advantages before
best price, the best delivery, trying to make the sale.
and the best inventory man-

agement when he bought

from someone else. It took her more than six months to de-

velop the big picture and to learn that most of what he claimed

wasn’t true. In fact, many of the suppliers were taking advan-

tage of him, and he wasn’t paying enough attention. He had

items that should have been returned, he had merchandise left

over on which he would never get his money back, and he had

warranties that should have been credited long ago. After six

months, this savvy salesperson finally made a case. She pre-

sented it to the owner and clearly demonstrated that her total
service package was better. He immediately went from the
prospect column to the customer column.

Epilogue

Remember that the goal of a sale may be not to sell at all,
but simply to gather critical information.

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