Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Want More Sales? Have SEX With Your Customer!

Nugget For The Noggin

Based on a concept created by Joe Tye, America’s Value Coach
This Nugget written by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, June 2009

The following is an excerpt from an article by Joe Tye that got me thinking:

I was once having lunch with the CEO of the nation’s largest producer of corporate training videos. We were discussing the most effective communication techniques when he said, “Joe, if you really want to reach an audience, you have to have sex with them.” I almost choked on my noodles! “All of them?” He went on to explain that effective communication begins by creating a Significant Emotional eXperience.

Joe was talking primarily about speaking in front of an audience and is that any different than speaking in front of a probable buyer or probable seller of real estate or any other commodity for that matter? I think not!

Therefore, if you want to make more sales, have S.E.X. with your customers! It is that simple!
When was the last time you had a truly enjoyable or satisfying and emotional buying experience? I’ll wait…..

If you are like most people, you probably did not have a really enjoyable or satisfying and emotional buying experience but you bought anyway correct? Some people shop because they love to shop and they buy what they see as compared to what they want or need. Other people shop only to buy what they intended to buy before they started shopping. In both cases, people bought. Imagine how successful you could become as a salesperson if you made this process a Significant Emotional Experience (S.E.X.).

What was the last item you purchased that cost over $200? Can you remember the name of the person who sold it to you? As you think about that question, here’s another question for real estate agents: Who was the last person you sold a home to or for? Do you think they remember your name?

For example, think about someone who bought a home from you three years ago. Who would those folks say sold them their home? If you think they named you by name you may want to think again. But…you say…I send them a Christmas card every year. Probably with no hand written notes on it and maybe with a pre-printed name on it or worst, an advertisement for what you do on it.

I received six pieces of mail today and thankfully none were bills. There were six solicitations for me to buy something someone was selling. Two did not require opening, they were self-explanatory flyers but still, only 2 hours after receiving the mail, cannot tell you who they were from or what they were selling. The other four were in envelopes two of which where quite thick. For the record, all six pieces found the bottom of my trash can and the four in envelopes – not even opened. Sound familiar?

Question: Did I have a Significant Emotional Experience looking through my mail today? Nope! How much did it cost the sender to send the pieces? Who knows? Was it money well spent? Not in my case. You-know-who may have opened them and read them but not yours truly. Frankly, I am too busy to read about something I most likely have no need for and therefore just ignore them. How about you?

Before you send to or call one of the names in your database think outside the box. You can do what everyone else has done for years and you will probably get the same or similar results which is nothing. If that is true (and it is), then why do so many people keep doing what everyone else has done and still expect different or better results? There is only one answer – because everyone else is doing it. Whoa Breaux have you forgotten the Praetor Principle that 20% of the people do 80% of the work (or get 80% of the results)? If that is true, and it is, then why would you want to do what 80% of the people continually do and who receive 20% or less of the results? Again, I’ll wait for your answer...
Bob Burg said that people will do business with and refer business to those people they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST. Jeffrey Gitomer said that all things being equal people will sill prefer to buy through people they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST. Jeffrey Gitomer also said, “People (that probably includes you) love to buy but hate to be sold!” Now just how profound is that statement?

I cannot speak for sales other than real estate but in regards to real estate I know from my own personal experience that sellers have listed their home with a complete boob in the business – me! The first several homes I listed, I had no idea what I was doing and I dare say if you were to ask those sellers who their real estate agent was they would be unable to tell you (even thought I managed to sell their homes, go figure). How sad is that? Here is another statistic provided by several National Association of REALTOR® studies, when it comes to sellers, almost 80% of all sellers interview only one agent to list their homes.

A lot of folks in sales have and will make a lot of sales - more by accident than by design. More people who have bought and who will buy in the future will still be unable to name the person doing the selling given a lapse in time from the date of sale. Joe Tye had it right. If you want to make more sales, make absolutely certain that your probable buyers and probable sellers are having S.E.X with you and the result will be more sales by having your customers talk about their “S.E.Xual” experiences. To make that happen be certain that you care about the customer and the customer knows you care! Your thoughts and actions should be on SERVICE, not the commission!
This is true whether you are talking with them on the phone (that would be “phone SEX” for you-know-who), through the mail (that would be “mail SEX” not to be confused with “male SEX”) and most importantly IN PERSON (that would be face-to-face SEX; the best SEX by far!)
If you would like to know more about the works of Joe Tye, go to http://www.joetye.com/. He is a fabulous teacher, writer, speaker and friend.
If you would like to know more about the works of Bob Burg, go to http://www.burg.com/. He is a fabulous teacher, writer, speaker and friend.
If you would like to know more about the works of Jeffrey Gitomer, go to http://www.jeffreygitomer.com/. He too is a fabulous teacher, writer, speaker and friend.

1 comment:

ChrisP said...

If a good real estate agent can help grease the wheels and get your offer in front of a lender, you can get an answer more quickly, and potentially close more deals.