Tag: Selling

Death of a salesman

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Today I dropped off my my Toyota Prius ‘Smug’ as my friends call it for a service. I decided to have a look at the new model Prius before I left.

new toyota prius

The floor sales guy approached and asked if I was interested to which I said yes. I told him I already have a Prius and like it…. Big hint.

The abridged version of conversation then went something like this:

“Gee, they look nice…. How much are they?”

“I don’t know… I’ll find out”

he comes back with a quote sheet…..

“Does the non itech model have Satellite Navigation?”

No – it doesn’t”

“How much would it cost to get it as an added extra?”

“$4000”

“Are you serious… Gee that is quite expensive compared to purchasing a stand alone version… it’s 10 times the price in fact”

his response in a down talking tone…..

“It’s not some crappy thing from an electrical store….”

“hmm…. what would the price be on the car if I wanted to buy it today?

“Same price, it’s a new car, I can’t give you a better price than this.” (using that tone again)

“oh, full price?”

“Yes. Have you ever bought a new car?”

my response….

“Yes, and today – you wont be selling one.”

I then leave the show room.

How to make a sales call

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Today I was out making sales calls in my local industrial area where there are a lot of different rental companies. Idea being to get these rental / hire companies using rentoid.com to generate extra business. The timing is good, because we have a zero cost entry platform and times are tough in the B to B arena.

But the thing that really matters is how I’ve been making the sales calls. Firstly, these guys are B to B, trades focused guys. renting mainly industrial equipment. The last thing they want to some tech / web geek give them bullshit about how the internet is going to save them…. So here’s what I’ve done instead:

  1. I haven’t shaved for 3 days – got a good beard growing. I’m wearing jeans and boots with a fairly standard zip up jumper. When I walk in I look like a customer, in fact I look like they do. I’m less threatening and this is obvious with the positive greetings I’m receiving.
  2. When I drop in (remember it’s a cold call) I say, ‘You know I live around the corner, I drive past here everyday and I’ve been meaning to drop in for ages. You know I’ve got web business which is all about rental companies…..” And I do live close enough to use this line. It is genuine.
  3. The F Bomb – Yep, I’m dropping this one big time – for one simple reason – they are. I’ll use whatever language they use. If they like swearing, so do I. I’m matching their culture in dress and language.
  4. I know their business. I don’t walk in and say ‘So tell me about your business’ – I do my homework before I turn up. Granted I know enough about the rental industry now to adapt to different segments pretty quick. I know what matters to them and get the conversation into that area quickly.
  5. I don’t try and sell anything on the first call. We do have a free entry to rentoid – but we also sell integrated web technologies. But I don’t try to sell anything.  Just get them to like me in fact, I’m selling me. People buy things from people they like. Then they find a logical or business reason to justify their decision after they’ve already made it.
  6. I follow up with whatever I promise. Information, phone calls, data whatever they need. I try to show I’ll be a valuable resource.
  7. I get rejected too. It’s a numbers game, and each rejection is a lesson for honing my skills for the next call.

I’m learning heaps and I’m loving it.

Start up blog says – get out there and start selling.

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Door knocking – Duncan Bannatyne

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

This a true story about how UK entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne got his start in business. He now has a net worth estimated at £320 and is the 167th richest person in Great Britain.

Bannatyne was told by his mother that, due to the family’s lack of money, he could not have a bicycle. To amend the problem he asked the local newsagents if he could have a paper round job and was told he could have one if he could get a list of one hundred interested people. Duncan painstakingly knocked on many doors and with extreme determination eventually had a list of one hundred customers. Armed with this list, young Bannatyne received the job and eventually a brand new bike.

old school bicycle

Startup blog says: there is a strong relationship between being able to knock on doors and becoming successful entrepreneurs.

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How to get investors interested

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

While watching the BBC television show the Dragons Den, quite often the ‘Dragons’ laugh at a business concept they are presented with and think it is ridiculous.

dragons den

Here’s the one thing that makes them eat their words every time:

Sales figures. Revenue, Customers, Repeat orders.

It’s only then they change their view from ‘not interested‘, to ‘I’m listening‘.

If you ever want to get investors interested, go see them once you’ve got sales. When you have revenue coming in it puts the kibosh on negative opinions. In addition,  it increases value of your business and reduces the percentage you’d have to give away for a cash investment.

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Spoof advertising – Campbells

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

If you’re from Australia and older than 30 you’ll remember these old school macho advertisements from Solo ‘The thirst crusher’. They we’re the equivalent of ‘extreme sports’ in the 80’s which is pretty hilarious as is the solo man idea. If your not over 20 and from Australia; watch them and keep reading:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aHNKziN-fE&feature=related]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mJSOaO7cAU&feature=related]

And Campbells the soup company have recently aired a spoof version of the solo ads, which I’ll admit I’m a sucker for – in pure entertainment terms, I love it. A great version which has a reasonable link to their product – a retro can of chunky food.

Only problem, is that advertising isn’t film making, and I’m not rushing out to buy crappy canned food any time soon. Sorry Campbells, nice try, but no increase in sales is coming your way, even if some kind of advertising award does.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLIIKrJ6nnI]

Startups out there – when advertising be original, it’s about selling, not comedy.

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The strategy is fine

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Today I had a discussion with a fellow entrepreneur who was wondering whether to reduce his pricing on a new business. His point was related to the fact that his very new business hadn’t achieved a great deal of sales volume just yet.

Then I asked him if he had implemented any of the sales generating activities we had discussed last week – to which the answer was no. My response was straight and simple:

If you haven’t been out knocking on doors selling your product to the potential target market, then how is it possible to know if the marketing mix is wrong?

It was at that time he knew he had some boot strapping work to do and get out there and sell.

picture-3

The point for entrepreneurs is that it is easy to get tempted to constantly revisit the strategy. To go back to the plans when things are not automatically falling into place. Instead of doing the really hard stuff – we look for a simple revision of ideas, the plan and all that shiny stuff. The thing we often avoid is the hard effort of selling and facing rejection. But until we go out into the market and try to generate revenue, it’s impossible to have real market feedback of what needs revised.

So before we re-design our plans and process, we have to test the current one in market. We do this by trying to sell what we already have at every possible distribution point. Until we have done that, strategy revision is just an excuse for not putting in the effort required.

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