Good selling is like filling the seats of a Ferris wheel. If you have ever seen a Ferris wheel, you know how it works. One at a time, the guy in charge fills the seats. People get off, he fills their seats and so on until all the people in the seats have left and new ones come on. Good selling is like that too. Only the wheel is always moving just a little bit so that some people–the ones you have just sold–can get off for awhile and others—the ones you are just starting to work on can get on.
Fill the Seats on the Ferris Wheel
What are you doing to bring them in? Selling is like an espionage game. If you want to sell something to someone, you should find out all you can about that person. Write down his name, address, and phone number, along with whatever information you picked up about them in your conversation. Where he works, how many kids they have, hobbies, and what he drives. When I started out, I just put this stuff on a piece of paper and shoved it into a drawer. But one day I discovered a lead that I hadn’t followed up on because I didn’t have a system. That was the beginning of my intelligence system. I transferred everything on all those scraps of paper into my records system, and I had the start of a mailing list and telephone call-back system. If you don’t have anything like that, you had better get one because you can’t possibly keep all the leads you develop in your head
Do all your friends and relatives know where you are working these days? You’ve got a little address book with their names. That’s a prospect list that I’m sure you already know about. But what have you done lately to be in touch with them? Here’s another good source of prospects: your file of paid bills. What I am saying is that the people you buy things from ought to be good prospects for the things you sell.
All the people I buy from are on my prospect list. I try to sell them every time I see them to buy from them. When I give them money, I let them know again what I sell. And I work it the other way too. If a guy buys a car from me, I know what business he is in. When I need some of what he sells, I will buy from him and let him know that I appreciate his buying from me. Some of them may not even know what you do for a living, so you ought to make sure everybody knows what you sell.
That sounds like pretty elementary advice, but I have run into a lot of salespeople who never tell anyone—other then close friends and relatives what they do for a living. I believe every salesperson ought to be proud of his or her profession. Let them know every once in a while that you have something for them any time they need it. Put everybody you can think of on your Ferris wheel!
Photo Credits- Adventuroo
