$800 bux a week. Is old fashioned selling dead?

Originally Posted by GordonJ

Thank You TommyBoy, you are absolutely right.


For me, and from my 10 year old self, selling begins when the customer says NO. In this case, the NO is never about the salesman, it is about the timing of the product being seen.

GordonJ

I think this is where our two views diverge. Not being a salesman I would rarely if ever push beyond a No. But what you're saying is a No is not really a No. And in my two friends above, I can see instances where I've said no, but they pushed further almost to a point of being obnoxious about getting the Yes. Interesting.

[GordonJ]

Originally Posted by TommyBoy

I think this is where our two views diverge. Not being a salesman I would rarely if ever push beyond a No. But what you're saying is a No is not really a No. And in my two friends above, I can see instances where I've said no, but they pushed further almost to a point of being obnoxious about getting the Yes. Interesting.

NO, what I am saying is, if you don't get a NO, then you just take the order, right?

When presenting a product/service your prospect either buys or doesn't. Pretty cut and dried. When Boz was at the car wash, he showed the people a dirty tail light half cleaned, walked up to the car, looked at the headlights, and told the person, "When you're done pull up behind that suburban over there and I'll clean your headlights." Then he walked away.

He was like most people, although physically imposing at 6'4" and 285, he was shy and almost a total introvert who hated selling. So he didn't, not until I showed up. We worked on the approach, in his case, he never gave them the chance to say yes or no. They either pulled up or didn't and he was happy with his system.

So, can we call that selling? I guess he actually had to walk to the front of the car and talk, and some days he was unwilling to do that. But his pitch was, "you got dirty headlights, I can clean them" and he didn't wait for an answer, turning his back on them before they could respond.

Anything other than a Yes or NO after a prospect sees or knows what you have to offer...may start either a controlled process from the seller's standpoint or a "get out of my face" reaction from the prospect's.

NOT caring, as in the way the Boz did it, was a game he played to avoid selling, and it worked ok for him. I at least wanted to give them a reason why a clean headlight should be wanted, to avoid hitting deer at night in the desert. Anyone who drives at night out there, instantly understood that.

OK. Now going to back to my original post and premise, I believe you TommyBoy represent the 99% of people who don't want to sell and would rather not even see the people.

So, I would agree, 100% that these people should not get involved in selling, but find other things to do which don't require any person to person contact.

Which is why I told my friend, I will be surprised if he finds 4 people in the COUNTRY who will take him up on his offer. Everyday, tens of thousands of guys go the burn and churn route, if anyone has ever posted a resume online for being a rep or if they mention selling or marketing at all, I guarantee they will be contacted by one of those guys who burns through scores of people a year, for one simple reason. Greed.

They want the rep to do the hard work of selling for a smaller % of the profits, so you see 25% to 33% being offered, and the whole thing is a grind of seeing the people, some wanting you to see 40 to 60 businesses a day.

That certainly wears people down.

I like the Boz approach of not caring. IF one can afford it. Different situations if you do something for some fun money, as opposed to paying the rent buying food situation. Money desperation carries its own repellant mechanism with it.

The difference between being obnoxious and continuing to gather information is night and day. There are lots of reasons for a NO, and it isn't impolite or obnoxious to find out their reason, and some can't even tell you what it is, they just want to be left alone, so in those cases, leave them alone.

I've always advised people to offer something people WANT and NEED, and your "presentation" can be as easy as "here it is, buy or not", as the Boz did at the carwash.

So, I do agree, even my friend's 800 buck a week simple call, show and complete system is too much for most people, which is why I've created products over the years like THE AUTOMATIC PRODUCT VENDING (APV) sites where no selling is ever needed, just traffic, which is an art form on its own. (Not really, just being able to either afford the traffic or having a traffic system set up).

I doubt many people could make 800 in their first week with either IM, APV, affiliates, Amazon or eCom or even eBay or chatteling...but I do know, because I have seen the proof, that a person can make 800 bux in a week with what my friend has to sell...IF he is willing to

A-Call local businesses.
B- Go show them the product
C- Take the orders

Even I would be hard pressed to make 800 bux cleaning headlights for 30 hours of work in a week.

Thanks TommyBoy, I think you are right, most people need to stay away from selling. I encourage a study of REMOTE direct marketing in these cases.

Gordon

[Glenn]

Thanks Gordon,

When I was 10 years old my Dad had us pick a bunch of garden vegetable
on a Friday.

Box up tomatoes and potatoes and squash and beans
and bell peppers and cabbage.

Then he drove my 2 brothers and me to Apartment Complexes
on SATURDAY MORNING in our station wagon.

Sent us to knock on doors.

People just got p*aid that Friday.

We showed up with Fresh vegetables out of our garden.

A Big RED Tomato in one hand and a GREEN zucchini in the other.

People bought or didn't.

It was a numbers game.

Great Experience for coaching dr to dr and telemarketers today.

In fact I have to keep Saying, "STOP S*ELLING" to the folks I am coaching right now.

Aluminum siding
Solar panels,
Insulation - hot as hades in Texas
Home Water Purification
Home Security Systems

I tell them, "Don't Push. Let the home owner b*uy or not. You're chasing them away."

The thing that SHOCKED me at age 10 was the Number of women who
kept money in their Bra.

Thanks,
Glenn

P.S. - You Are Correct. The folks who Get into DIRECT S*ALES Today who Get
Referred to us are Really motivated. They HAVE to make munny.

I have a fella s*elling Mortgages Dr to Dr Right now. His boss had him calling
100+ Ph #'s a day from a list of Recent Mortgage b*uyers.

He burnt out.

We send him to home owners who just BOUGHT A New Pool. Or
Just moved into a new house.

I've got F_R_E_E ways to get lists of 100's of both.

Originally Posted by GordonJ

NO, what I am saying is, if you don't get a NO, then you just take the order, right?

OK. Now going to back to my original post and premise, I believe you TommyBoy represent the 99% of people who don't want to sell and would rather not even see the people.

So, I would agree, 100% that these people should not get involved in selling, but find other things to do which don't require any person to person contact.

The difference between being obnoxious and continuing to gather information is night and day. There are lots of reasons for a NO, and it isn't impolite or obnoxious to find out their reason, and some can't even tell you what it is, they just want to be left alone, so in those cases, leave them alone.

Thanks TommyBoy, I think you are right, most people need to stay away from selling. I encourage a study of REMOTE direct marketing in these cases.

Gordon

Thanks for your detailed response, Gordon.

In the case of my obnoxious sales friends, in one instance I knew how hard he pushed for the name of the person in charge of my company's representative for cleaning contracts. It wasn't a simple no on my part but quite a few before I said, "let it go. I'm not telling you his name."

Even I would be hard pressed to make 800 bux cleaning headlights for 30 hours of work in a week.

I plan to do this by developing a route / network of used car dealerships throughout a large metro area. I'm gonna give it a shot at least.

It's actually not correct that I don't WANT to sell, but don't think I could ever get over the hurdles necessary to be effective. It's probably 90% (or more) psychological hurdles but they're still hurdles.

It's like the people who have said they could never learn another language. I'm a testament that it's quite possible under the right circumstances. Uncle Sugar taught me Russian in 47 weeks and I gave him a solid 4 years after that in the job. I was highly motivated NOT to fail (in language school) because I would've ended up being a cook or truck driver in some remote area of the world (nothing wrong with those jobs, but just not what I signed up for). It may take longer to learn a language but it's certainly doable for anybody.

I don't know, is the maxim, "Those who say they can and those who say they can't are both right" appropriate here?

Sowpub Readers,

At the bottom line...

B2B selling is not dead. It's a "mindset" going on here. Just like MLM and Network Marketing selling, many folks/people are going to AVOID IT like the plague. I was on the train last week full of people. HUNDREDS. 95% of them were on the phone talking or texting with that BLUE GLOW on their faces. The other 5% were reading. I was one of the only ones looking at what was going on. I also pointed it out to someone beside me. She stopped and talked to me for a few minutes and went right back to texting on her phone. Sorry to say we're in a completely different environment from 20-30 years ago. There's the age of BF-AF. Before phone, after phone. TODAY, you'll have a hard time getting anyone to do face to face marketing. That's just the reality of it all. Even todays hard core B2B commissioned sales people are using social media, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. I'm on it every day. Again, the direct sales mindset is DEAD. B2B selling has gone DIGITAL just like everything else. Knocking on doors...NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. It's an ERA relegated to the past.

Happy New Year for all Sowpubbers.

With utmost respect,

Donnie Dixon

[GordonJ]

Originally Posted by donsonic

Sowpub Readers,

At the bottom line...

B2B selling is not dead. It's a "mindset" going on here. Just like MLM and Network Marketing selling, many folks/people are going to AVOID IT like the plague. I was on the train last week full of people. HUNDREDS. 95% of them were on the phone talking or texting with that BLUE GLOW on their faces. The other 5% were reading. I was one of the only ones looking at what was going on. I also pointed it out to someone beside me. She stopped and talked to me for a few minutes and went right back to texting on her phone. Sorry to say we're in a completely different environment from 20-30 years ago. There's the age of BF-AF. Before phone, after phone. TODAY, you'll have a hard time getting anyone to do face to face marketing. That's just the reality of it all. Even todays hard core B2B commissioned sales people are using social media, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. I'm on it every day. Again, the direct sales mindset is DEAD. B2B selling has gone DIGITAL just like everything else. Knocking on doors...NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. It's an ERA relegated to the past.

Happy New Year for all Sowpubbers.

With utmost respect,

Donnie Dixon

Thanks Donnie,

I'm not going to learn how to develop apps, but I will hire someone, and last week I met with just such a person to discuss it.

You just observed the phenomenon I call, The Age of the External Brain.

Over the Holidays we wanted to go see a movie, so my daughter whips out her phone and in seconds tells me what is playing, where and when, and then can instantly tell me what it is about, who is in it and the rotten tomato score.

Likewise, any little piece of trivia or even HOW TO can be quickly accessed in our External Brains.

NO need for much study in everday areas. Want to know how to make a souffle, just youtube it on your external brain.

Well, we old timers can either lament the times of personal engagement, OR join in. Which is why I talked to the app developer.

Working on a few apps from my core: cooking, golf, selling and persuasion.

A POCKET PRO for any situation, if the home computer was our first generation external brains, we are now in the Dick Tracy area of small portable TV/Radio studios, multi-channel communications and instant library knowledge...

let's cash in. Things aren't going to go the other wayl are they?

GordonJ

PS. Also, they person WILLING to go out and talk to people, will, in my opinion, always be able to make their moolah with something to sell.