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You Can't Help Everybody

by Blase
20 replies
This is a lesson I learned a longtime
ago, but it came up again this weekend
so I thought I'd mention it.


I took a 1961 Motorola counsel stereo
in to be reconditioned this weekend.


The store was very cool, it was like stepping back in time.

They had all kinds of old audio equipment and 10's of
thousands of 78 rpm records.


I had checked out their web site before I went (you never know)
it was crap.


If I can barter with a business I always will. This restoration
is not going to be cheap.


So after I did my business I started asking about their web site.
How they got customers, record sales, and so on. This was all
done in the form of a discussion, not a "drill them" kind of thing.


Based on the conversation I could tell this would be a customer
that I would not work with. He was very negative about the Internet
even though he had a site and a fan page. He had all kinds of
excuses of why it didn't work and on and on.


Could I have sold him on how I could help him?
Could I have traded services with him?

Of course, I found him because of the Internet, but that doesn't matter.
With some prospects it's not worth getting into it. There is
plenty of business out there, there is no reason to deal with
customers that are going to be hard to work with.

Now go sell something. :-)
  • Profile picture of the author Irish Intuition
    It is hard enough to entice open minded prospects let alone those
    who you have to chase uphill a mile in your bare feet.

    p.s. I got Advertising Magic by Brian Keith Voiles. I created a letter
    for a client that I based off of one of his samples. $98,000 in total
    sales for my client. GOOD book.
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    • Profile picture of the author Blase
      Originally Posted by Irish Intuition View Post

      It is hard enough to entice open minded prospects let alone those
      who you have to chase uphill a mile in your bare feet.

      p.s. I got Advertising Magic. I created a letter for a client that
      I based off of one of his samples. $98,000 in total sales for
      my client. GOOD book.
      Hey Irish,

      You are so right!

      Regarding Ad Magic, I think it's a great book, but here's what's
      nuts. I've advertised great books here for sale and they never sell.
      I took them to the local bookstore and gave them away.

      It seems like everybody wants the easy method and will not
      read a good book. Oh well.
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      • Profile picture of the author Irish Intuition
        You could sell them... not likely so easy on here. Well, maybe for $7

        I paid around $20 on ebay for it years ago. I think it was worth it
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        • Profile picture of the author Blase
          Originally Posted by Irish Intuition View Post

          You could sell them... not likely so easy on here. Well, maybe for $7

          I paid around $20 on ebay for it years ago. I think it was worth it
          I was offering books for a few bucks with free shipping, no takers.
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          • Profile picture of the author Irish Intuition
            Originally Posted by Blase View Post

            I was offering books for a few bucks with free shipping, no takers.
            How were you presenting it? Just in your sig?
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            • Profile picture of the author Blase
              Originally Posted by Irish Intuition View Post

              How were you presenting it? Just in your sig?
              Yes, I was advertising a garage sale of marketing books.
              I set up a wp site with images, isbn's and paypal buttons
              for each book.

              Total waste of time!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Righto. We don't want to work with people who don't value what we do, can't afford it, and don't play well with others.

    Good for you for recognizing the poor fit here, and walking away.
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  • Profile picture of the author KingOfContentMarketing
    Speaking of Ad Magic, Brian posted today over here:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...ml#post7487275
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    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
    - Jack Trout
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  • Profile picture of the author ERPLeadsWriter
    Originally Posted by Blase View Post

    With some prospects it's not worth getting into it. There is
    plenty of business out there, there is no reason to deal with
    customers that are going to be hard to work with.

    Now go sell something. :-)
    Interesting experience. Reminds me of this piece on LinkedIn. Your correspondent is a good example of someone who prefers listening to himself instead of considering other people's opinion.

    Ideally it should be balanced but like you said, this is not a perfect world and there are others who are more willing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Blase
      Originally Posted by ERPLeadsWriter View Post

      Interesting experience. Reminds me of this piece on LinkedIn. Your correspondent is a good example of someone who prefers listening to himself instead of considering other people's opinion.

      Ideally it should be balanced but like you said, this is not a perfect world and there are others who are more willing.
      WOW! Tony Robbins, there's a name I haven't heard in a longtime.

      I think that all of our dealings with people no matter what it's about
      is all controlled by our own filters. Think about all of the influences
      we have in our lives that form our world view, which of course
      ends up being our filter. Unfortunately we all do it, me included,
      right or wrong there are many things will will not accept.
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      • Profile picture of the author ERPLeadsWriter
        Originally Posted by Blase View Post

        WOW! Tony Robbins, there's a name I haven't heard in a longtime.

        I think that all of our dealings with people no matter what it's about
        is all controlled by our own filters. Think about all of the influences
        we have in our lives that form our world view, which of course
        ends up being our filter. Unfortunately we all do it, me included,
        right or wrong there are many things will will not accept.
        I don't really think it's unfortunate. Filters can be necessary and open-mindedness can turn into an excuse to persist with obviously bad ideas. Consider the opposite extreme to your experience. As with all things, balance is key.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rearden
    You can't fix stupid.
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    • Profile picture of the author Blase
      Originally Posted by Rearden View Post

      You can't fix stupid.
      LOL!!

      People ask me all of the time, "how do you know that?"

      I READ!!

      I bought a Jay Abraham book back in 1989
      for $1.00 per page, it was a 400 page book.

      That book took me from making $65,000 a year
      to $165,000 a year.

      But really what can you learn from a book.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
    While it is certainly true there are people (and organizations) I just won't work with, generally I have always given them a chance. A lot of that discussion you had sounds more like ignorance/bad experiences that could lead to a profitable relationship for both of you.

    Paraphrasing the old saying in sales, objections are the lifeblood .

    Marvin
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    • Profile picture of the author Blase
      Originally Posted by Marvin Johnston View Post

      While it is certainly true there are people (and organizations) I just won't work with, generally I have always given them a chance. A lot of that discussion you had sounds more like ignorance/bad experiences that could lead to a profitable relationship for both of you.

      Paraphrasing the old saying in sales, objections are the lifeblood .

      Marvin
      So are you saying you think it's worth your time
      to attempt to overcome ignorance, bad experiances
      and in this case a bad attitude?
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      • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
        Originally Posted by Blase View Post

        So are you saying you think it's worth your time
        to attempt to overcome ignorance, bad experiances
        and in this case a bad attitude?
        Isn't that what sales and marketing are all about?

        First, I totally agree with there being some people I don't want to work with. But that is always based more on a difference in philosophy to the point of them being closed minded about the importance or meaning of customer service.

        The bad attitude is probably caused by bad experiences. And unless you are planning on providing a bad experience , it might be worth your time to at least find out what the real objections are.

        In a general sense, I can't say I've ever run into someone where we didn't agree on the problem (can't say that for solutions though.)

        Marvin
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        • Profile picture of the author Blase
          Originally Posted by Marvin Johnston View Post

          Isn't that what sales and marketing are all about?

          First, I totally agree with there being some people I don't want to work with. But that is always based more on a difference in philosophy to the point of them being closed minded about the importance or meaning of customer service.

          The bad attitude is probably caused by bad experiences. And unless you are planning on providing a bad experience , it might be worth your time to at least find out what the real objections are.

          In a general sense, I can't say I've ever run into someone where we didn't agree on the problem (can't say that for solutions though.)

          Marvin
          I've been thinking about what you said, and I thought back about my
          career. When I was just getting started in sales I had a territory and I
          will admit I didn't let any prospect go. I just figured I hadn't done
          my job yet until the became a customer. I would keep all prospects
          on a contact list and continually mail, call, and visit.

          Then as I became more established and had a customer base. I
          didn't do as much of that.

          After I became self employed I started to become picky about who
          I would and would not work with.

          Now that I'm old, independent, opinionated, and very experienced
          I don't bother dealing with challenging prospects.

          I still think now that even starting out I would move quicker to find
          the yes prospects and skip most, not all, of the nos and maybes.

          Of course this depends on what your selling also, but for
          offline marketing there are plenty of small businesses out there.

          So it really all comes down to how you want to do business I guess
          and what your needs, goals, likes and dislikes are.

          Does that make sense?
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          • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
            Originally Posted by Blase View Post

            Now that I'm old, independent, opinionated, and very experienced I don't bother dealing with challenging prospects.

            I still think now that even starting out I would move quicker to find
            the yes prospects and skip most, not all, of the nos and maybes.

            Of course this depends on what your selling also, but for
            offline marketing there are plenty of small businesses out there.

            So it really all comes down to how you want to do business I guess
            and what your needs, goals, likes and dislikes are.

            Does that make sense?
            Absolutely makes sense, and I pretty much fall into the same category although my background is engineering with some sales training thrown in. It took several years after I sold the business to begin to evaluate what I had done, both the accomplishments as well as the ... uh, less than satisfactory results in some cases.

            So I think we pretty much agree except that I would put off a decision to either work or not work with someone until a bit of a more formal discussion took place.

            Assuming they were qualified in the first place!

            This last statement is actually some learning that took place after the business was sold .

            Marvin
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            • Profile picture of the author Blase
              Originally Posted by Marvin Johnston View Post

              "although my background is engineering"
              LOL! I've been in sales and marketing for 49 years. The bulk,
              30 years of that was selling electronics at the component level.

              Through experience and more education I became a Field Applications Engineer
              so I didn't have to take one with me on calls and so I could get paid a higher
              commission.

              I hope you realize that being and engineer and being able to sell
              makes you a very rare individual! Good for you!
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