The Real Deal Offline Series: Selling Offline Services To A 18 Year Old?
Warriors,
Have you ever found yourself pitching the very young daughter and son of a business owner?
The first time this happened to me, I was so ticked off I couldn't even see straight.
Here's how it happened to me:
I did my normal appointment setting routine and asked for 90 minutes of uninterrupted time. I also asked the prospect if there was anyone else I needed to explain things to or bring into the presentation.
This way I usually get the right people to be there while I'm doing a presentation.
So, I go to the meeting where we're all sitting at the table and the 55 year old owner has his 18 year old son there. No big deal at first. But, then the son begins to ask questions that have a negative/skeptical/flippant tone to them.
Up until this point, I had directed my presentation towards the father, but as soon as I sensed the direction things were going, I immediately started presenting to the 18 year old as well.
Now, after walking the talk for so many years, I quickly recognized that the son's "internet marketing" experience started with posting to facebook about his weekend with his girlfriend(s) and ended with his posting weird video's to youtube and emailing the links to his buddies.
Other than that, he wasn't bringing much to the table.
However, I used one of my ole' sales tricks to turn things in my favor. For every question he asked, I answered him quickly, professionally and completely, but IMMEDIATELY asked him one or two questions, and then I would wait for an answer.
After the second time this happened, he promptly stopped being a jerk and slowly began to affirm and agree with everything I was saying.
Now, when I say I asked him questions, I don't mean that I asked him super technical questions to make him feel stupid, because that's not professional and his father was still sitting there and that would've been a disaster.
I simply answered his question, gave my recommendation backed up with real-life examples and asked him what he thought about the methods, strategies and results.
That worked well for me for the next hour and allowed me to close the sale.
I mostly see this happening in a family owned business, but I've also had my share of the mothering, glorified secretary trying to do the same thing and it's also been fairly successful there too.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Thanks,
Chris Rivers
Have you ever found yourself pitching the very young daughter and son of a business owner?
The first time this happened to me, I was so ticked off I couldn't even see straight.
Here's how it happened to me:
I did my normal appointment setting routine and asked for 90 minutes of uninterrupted time. I also asked the prospect if there was anyone else I needed to explain things to or bring into the presentation.
This way I usually get the right people to be there while I'm doing a presentation.
So, I go to the meeting where we're all sitting at the table and the 55 year old owner has his 18 year old son there. No big deal at first. But, then the son begins to ask questions that have a negative/skeptical/flippant tone to them.
Up until this point, I had directed my presentation towards the father, but as soon as I sensed the direction things were going, I immediately started presenting to the 18 year old as well.
Now, after walking the talk for so many years, I quickly recognized that the son's "internet marketing" experience started with posting to facebook about his weekend with his girlfriend(s) and ended with his posting weird video's to youtube and emailing the links to his buddies.
Other than that, he wasn't bringing much to the table.
However, I used one of my ole' sales tricks to turn things in my favor. For every question he asked, I answered him quickly, professionally and completely, but IMMEDIATELY asked him one or two questions, and then I would wait for an answer.
After the second time this happened, he promptly stopped being a jerk and slowly began to affirm and agree with everything I was saying.
Now, when I say I asked him questions, I don't mean that I asked him super technical questions to make him feel stupid, because that's not professional and his father was still sitting there and that would've been a disaster.
I simply answered his question, gave my recommendation backed up with real-life examples and asked him what he thought about the methods, strategies and results.
That worked well for me for the next hour and allowed me to close the sale.
I mostly see this happening in a family owned business, but I've also had my share of the mothering, glorified secretary trying to do the same thing and it's also been fairly successful there too.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Thanks,
Chris Rivers
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jondabach -
Thanks
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