March 07, 2009
The panhandler's secret
When there were old-school parking meters in New York, quarters were precious.
One day, I'm walking down the street and a guy comes up to me and says, "Do you have a dollar for four quarters?" He held out his hand with four quarters in it.
Curious, I engaged with him. I took out a dollar bill and took the four quarters.
Then he turned to me and said, "Can you spare a quarter?"
What a fascinating interaction.
First, he engaged me. A fair trade, one that perhaps even benefited me, not him.
Now, we have a relationship. Now, he knows I have a quarter (in my hand, even). So his next request is much more difficult to turn down. If he had just walked up to me and said, "can you spare a quarter," he would have been invisible.
Too often, we close the sale before we even open it.
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March 7, 2009 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 25, 2008
Santa - World’s Greatest Entrepreneur
Santa as the World’s Greatest Entrepreneur by Jeremy Hanks. In 12 parts: Story, problem, solution, market opportunity, segmentation, competition, channel & growth, team, IP, traction, funding & ego...
Guy Kawasaki re-packaged the post into a venture-capital pitch for Santa to illustrate the kind of deal that venture capitalists would fund in today’s economic conditions: Santa’s Perfect Pitch
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Un-related: Cult Procession Fail (Youtube. Damn! There are 761 comments on this post!)
A Huge Depository of Unusual Links About Sales and Salespeople Here
December 25, 2008 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 30, 2008
Greatest thing
Patent no. 1,867,377, issued to Otto Frederick Rohwedder on July 12, 1932
9 other TED presentations that might just change how you view the world
Renaming products to match their qualities - Honest Products at Worth 1000
Un-related: Paddle faster - I hear banjos
Update! I didn't realize that I posted exactly the same clip about a year ago. I must be really losing it - OUCH!
A Huge Depository of Unusual Links About Sales and Salespeople Here
August 30, 2008 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 17, 2008
How to torment telemarketers with one word
From The Benefit Headline (“Stops Diarrhea in 30 Minutes”) to The How To Headline (“How To Avoid Snake-Oil Selling Scumbags On The Internet”) - 8 Different Types Of Headlines Which Sell
Shamwow! Meet the next great TV pitchman
The 100 Oldest Companies in the World
A Huge Depository of Unusual Links About Sales and Salespeople Here
June 17, 2008 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 08, 2008
Running a startup
Jason Calacanis on 17 tips for saving money running a startup. No. 4. Buy cheap tables and expensive chairs. Tables are a complete rip off. We buy stainless steel restaurant tables that are $100 and $600 Areon chairs. Total cost per workstation? $700. Compare that to buying a $500-$1,500 cube/designer workstation. The chair is the only thing that matters... invest in it.
Buy perhaps the Man Stool...
A short Mexican lady rang the doorbell of my house this morning. I was up & reading, so I looked at the clock. It was 6:17AM! In broken English she asked if I have a job for her, probably a house cleaning type job. Wow!
A Huge Depository of Unusual Links About Sales and Salespeople Here
March 8, 2008 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 21, 2008
How to Write a Sales Letter, Gary Halbert style
‘Did you know that your family name was recorded with a coat-of-arms in ancient heraldic archives more than seven centuries ago?
‘My husband and I discovered this while doing some research for some friends of ours who have the same last name as you do. We’ve had an artist re-create the coat-of-arms exactly as described in the ancient records. This drawing, along with other information about the name, has been printed into an attractive one-page report.’
I just read that marketer & copyright promoter Gary Halbert died about year ago. He was famous for his "Coat-of-Arms" letter that generated millions of dollars in sales, and produced million copies of direct mail pieces ever since.
Gary Halbert’s newsletter archives
Gary Halbert Copywriting Swipe File
Another sample of a similar style pitch - “Learn The Secrets of Making Better Pizza In Your Own Kitchen Than You Can Buy At The Pizzeria”
Seth Godin Action Figure by Archie McPhee
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February 21, 2008 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 12, 2007
Haggling for Hot Dogs
Phone Closers Needed - Make $3,000 to $5,000 per Week! Call 641-715-3900 Ext. 24834 & leave your number
Olympus creates 'world's smallest questionnaire' on specimen slide
Everything is open to negotiation. Also, learn how to haggle for a bargain
By following a few simple steps, you can make your Craigslist selling experience simple, painless and profitable. A Seller's Guide to Craigslist
13 Step Method For Buying A Car While Controlling The Sale And The Price
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October 12, 2007 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 22, 2007
What was the best thing before sliced bread?
A young zealous boy wanted desperately to work at a department store
Update: Chillicothe, Missouri is the home of sliced bread!
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September 22, 2007 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 31, 2007
Get Rich or Burn Out trying
On Wall Street, a new phrase was invented only a few years ago: IBGYBG. I’ll be gone, you’ll be gone, so let’s do the deal and let the suckers pay for it.
Great Moments in Marketing on “If Charlie Parker was a gunslinger”
Telemarketing: To sell, via the phone. That's a simple definition, isn't it? And no telemarketer is ever a total failure. After all, just to put on the headset you've already sold something: Your dignity. That first high pressure sale is a two-fer: One magazine pack and your morals. Keep at it long enough and you can even sell your soul
This blog is not for sale! (Stated by Tom Coates)
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August 31, 2007 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 11, 2007
Selling is Dead
Make your customers smarter, Focus On Relationships, Not Transactions, Make It Safe and Easy To Leave, Don't Disparage The Competition and Don't Judge The Customer. 5 Startup Sales Tips From Turkish Rug Dealers
In the same vain: 10 Sales and Marketing Tips I learned from Strippers. For example: Sales Technique #1 - Give them something for nothing. One of the first things a stripper will do is come up to you and flirt with you. She will likely sit on your lap or do something to raise your excitement level. For this, you have to do nothing. But you do get a sample of the service and if it is a good one, your chances of buying the service increases
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July 11, 2007 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 28, 2006
Coffee is for closers
“The good news is - you're fired. The bad news is you've got, all you got, just one week to regain your jobs, starting tonight. Starting with tonight. Sit. Oh, have I got your attention now? Good. 'Cause we're adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anyone want to see second prize? Second prize's a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired. You get the picture? You're laughing now? You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money. Get their names to sell them! You can't close the leads you're given, you can't close shit, you are shit, hit the bricks pal and beat it 'cause you are going out!”
Cup above and other Sales Monologues there
Lessons learned from a sales job that sucked
Seventy years after it first appeared, Dale Carnegie’s classic self-help manual How to Win Friends and Influence People is being republished in a new edition. Is it still relevant?
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October 28, 2006 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 01, 2006
The Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank
Real monks refilling your ink cartridges and Designer Diaper Bags. Two out of top 10 Dumbest Online Business Ideas That Made It Big Time
People Who Drive Silver or Blue Cars Should not Read This column because they won't get it anyway. That's just how they are
Nine things marketers ought to know about salespeople. No 1. Selling is hard. Harder than you may ever realize
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August 1, 2006 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 22, 2006
A used car salesman by day, a stand up comedian by night
Lessons from an Umbrella Salesman
The Car 54 poster, created by Proctor and Gamble for a 1962 TSP contest. All about The Traveling Salesman Problem
The Art of Sucking Down: One of the great misconceptions of selling, pitching, and partnering - basically, any time you want to get someone to do something for you - is that you should suck up to the people with the big titles and “A list” designation. Sometimes you do, but the ability to suck up to the folks who don't have big titles but make the world run is more useful
Top Ten Stock Photography Cliches. You’ve seen them all: The Handshake of Synergy, Telecommuting from the Edge and Ewa, the Polish Everywoman
My wife succumbed to a high-pressure car salesman when I was out of town. Help me get some or all of my money back!
48 Hours with the King of Cold Calls. Cold calling is both an art and a science. It requires a fluent understanding of body language, the ability to talk to people on all levels of workplace society, and above all, a carefully cultivated image
Repost: How the project really works
Missouri holding career fair for ex-cons
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June 22, 2006 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 12, 2006
“We are all ready to go! If you tell us we have to give our lives now, we’re ready!”
Do you Remember Jonestown? The extreme example of persuasive salesmanship, done daily on any battlefield, is convincing people who don’t know enough to give their life for your beliefs. The Jonestown Death Tape is a chilling 45 minute long audio tape that was recorded on November 18, 1978, just before and during the mass suicide of the Peoples Temple folks. (From Negative Smart). Lots of alternative information about the cult of The Peoples Temple. Brrrr...
In similar vain: How to be persuasive and How to Detect Lies
Last words of people who are about to perish
Less tragic: The magnificent product that will make any customer happy - Polsupah, the ultimate washing powder. A short animation by Alek Wasilewski
A Christmas Message From Alec Baldwin's Character in Glengarry Glen Ross
Many More Stories of Unusual Salesmen Here
February 12, 2006 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 18, 2006
Would you prefer the red one or the yellow one?
"Shall we meet next week or the week after?" The alternative close works by offering more than one clearly defined alternative to the customer. The number of alternative should be very few - two or three is often quite adequate. If you offer too many alternatives, the customer will then be faced with a more complex problem of how they choose between the many alternatives offered. Many other closing techniques at Changing Minds, with 1,700 pages, one of the largest sites in the world on all aspects of how we change one another's minds
Old Glory Robot Insurance
"Until last Saturday, I have never heard of Classica cookware by Regal Ware. Two weeks ago, my friends Matt and Kristin went to Chandler Balloon Festival. At the festival, one of the booths was advertising in-home cooking demonstrations in exchange for free hotel-stays. The cookware company would send a sales person to your home, cook your family dinner, and try to sell you their cookware. Regardless if you decide to purchase the cookware or not, the company would pay for 3-nights resort stay at a Mexico vacation spot..."
A basic guide to the ideas in Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People
The top ten lies of entrepreneurs, by Guy Kawasaki. I used all ten between 1987-1990
The Smoking Gun. A treasure trove of damning evidence against Big Tobacco has been unearthed at UCSF
Please help - I need to sell a domain name. Anybody has any advice of the best place & method? I will announce it within the next week or so.
Many More Links of How to Win Friends and Influence People Here
January 18, 2006 in Salesmanship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack