Siem Reap Cambodia, July 2017...
It was the last sweaty night of my two week stay in Cambodia.
We'd just left an army base where for $10 we were allowed to rent the army's fully automatic rifles.
While shooting cans in a field one of the soldiers tried to "upsell" us on shooting a cow with a rocket launcher...
The point being, Cambodia is a wild place and while walking back to my hotel from the army base in search of souvenirs, I wasn't sure what wild oddities I'd stumble across.
While browsing a silver shop I met the best salesperson I've ever come across... In the form of the shop owner's 15-year-old daughter.
All it took was for me to offer a 2 seconds glance at this little silver fish for her to get to work...
"Hello Sir, how are you? Where are you from?"
"Um... Hawaii?"
"Ah, Honolulu is your capital. I hear it's very lovely there!"
- Instantly entering into rapport building. I later learned that these kids memorized the capitals of most states and countries.
"Yea, hey that's pretty impressive but I'm just browsing at the moment though..."
*unfazed* "Yes sir, are you looking for a souvenir to take back to your wife? This fish is actually very good luck, especially for boyfriends who give them as gifts."
- Determining values and buying motives.
"Uh, yea she's my girlfriend actually. haha I'm sure it's good luck but I'm traveling light and don't really want to carry something like this."
"Oh you don't have to worry sir! It's very light and easy to carry, here (has me hold it)."
(As I'm inspecting the fish now): "My mother individually wraps every item so you're assured it won't break in your luggage."
(As she sees me noticing the price tag): "Unless of course, you'd prefer this larger fish, it's only a bit more.
If you'd prefer this one we can ship it back to Hawaii for you at no additional charge, so it's home waiting for you and your loverly girlfriend on your arrival."
Many things are happening here:
"Um... Hawaii?"
"Ah, Honolulu is your capital. I hear it's very lovely there!"
- Instantly entering into rapport building. I later learned that these kids memorized the capitals of most states and countries.
"Yea, hey that's pretty impressive but I'm just browsing at the moment though..."
*unfazed* "Yes sir, are you looking for a souvenir to take back to your wife? This fish is actually very good luck, especially for boyfriends who give them as gifts."
- Determining values and buying motives.
"Uh, yea she's my girlfriend actually. haha I'm sure it's good luck but I'm traveling light and don't really want to carry something like this."
"Oh you don't have to worry sir! It's very light and easy to carry, here (has me hold it)."
(As I'm inspecting the fish now): "My mother individually wraps every item so you're assured it won't break in your luggage."
(As she sees me noticing the price tag): "Unless of course, you'd prefer this larger fish, it's only a bit more.
If you'd prefer this one we can ship it back to Hawaii for you at no additional charge, so it's home waiting for you and your loverly girlfriend on your arrival."
Many things are happening here:
- Overcoming objections
- Touching/"trying" the item to establish connection to it
- Offering bonuses with the upsell (larger fish and free shipping)
- Price anchoring
This girl was a pro and I didn't stand a chance...
This girl had obviously done her homework and then fine tuned it over hundreds if not thousands of customers...
Now my question for you is... Have you done the same?
Do you have a list of your potential client's most common objections as well as your response?
I give our clients in the Digital Business Mastery Program a tool and of course training to walk them through this, but if you want to get a head start on the process...
Step one is this:
- Simply take a piece of paper (or a google sheet if you want to get fancy) and divide it into two columns.
- In the first column write every common objection that tends to come up on your sales calls.
- In the second column write three rebuttals or ways to overcome them.
- we do three from three different angles as not everyone is going to respond to the same one
- Keep this open when you have your sales calls as a quick reference, but also to add any new objections to the list.
- Now go through a few hundred "closes" like this young lady did and you'll be unstoppable!
-Jay
She was lethal.
She knew what objections I was going to have even before I did and she had her rebuttals ready to go.- we do three from three different angles as not everyone is going to respond to the same one
PS - Of course we still have this fish in our life.
When I see it I don't think of Cambodia, my girlfriend, or even the talented silversmith that made it.
I'm just reminded of the best salesman I'd ever met and the lessons I learned from that young professional!
Have you had a similar experience of learning a business lesson from an unsuspecting source?
