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Old October 22, 2019, 09:54 AM
GordonJ's Avatar
GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Default Well, I have a different take on things.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Millard Grubb View Post
Would the product selection depend on the personality type of the individual as well? Or would that just be choice?

What would be interesting would be a nice list.

However, it just occurred to me that perhaps an info product where you explain the benefits and show exactly what a person receives without giving away the store might be considered show and tell. But, that gets into a bit of work.

Thanks Millard, my first answer is Yes, and No. But let us back up to the decision.

Do people just fall into sales situations or is it a conscious choice? I think all would agree that it is a choice one makes, right?

So, if a person chooses sales over doing something else for income, that is where and when they should consider their personality and aptitudes.

The most started selling job, although it is touted as a "people" business, is MLM or Network Marketing. Find two people, they find two and so on until everyone is a millionaire, a double diamond direct or gold star winner.

But if the MLMer doesn't move (sell) product, they don't last very long, and MOST, v a s t majority find out pretty quickly they are NOT suited to do this "people" business.

So I always ask salespeople what got them into what they are selling, and surprisingly, the answer has been, it seemed like a good idea, or it sounded like something I could do, or I started out on fire, but the selling just

ground
me
down.


Selling can be a grind. Anyone who has done it knows it CAN be, but it doesn't have to be. Of course there are those BORN (Don Alm-Don Trump types) salesman, who just have confidence they can do anything, so selling comes easy to them.

I was a Realtor with my GRI, which took me two years of classes to get, then I hit the deck running and found the brokers wanted me to GRIND for five years on a local "farm", to develop my skills. I don't think they do that these days, but still, most Realtors, are part-timers, only about 33% are full time professionals.

Used car salesman avg. around 36k a year, albeit the superstars could go over 150k or more. It too, has some of the highest turnover in the sales game.

So to get around to trying to answer the question, sure, personality can make a difference, IF the person knows and is aware of that going in. The problem, especially with today's ONLINE fluff, hype and easy-peasy ...

do what I did and you too can make 100k a year, just like me...

BS, and so many either desperate or unhappy at their current jobs (or tired of living in mommies basement) get involved in things which REQUIRE selling, although they are led to believe that it doesn't.

So a list, of products, as I understand your question might give someone considering a sales position, some food for thought, but I would say, THINK about alternatives to doing any selling, and if you do have to sell, make it as pull, easy, as SHOW AND TELL as you can. Or do something else.

Now for a couple of REAL LIFE examples.

For that last decade or so, I've worked with several people in the co-op ADVERTISING business, which has included many platforms. Everything from Pizza Box Tops, to register tapes...to the giant postcards, hosts (like gyms) and events, like bridal showers. This is a lucrative business for the good salesperson.

A very recent example to demonstrate. MENU BOARDS, which I advertised a few months ago, these are given away FREE to restaurants, and ads are sold on the bottom or sides of the boards. Finding a restaurant is easy, finding one that the owner or manage will freely HELP you find advertisers is difficult, because...

they don't want to either offend anyone,
or
bother anyone.

A restaurant owner may have 3-5 insurance agents come in, so he is reluctant to put on one his board for fear the others would ask, why not me?

Or, he just feels uneasy about suggesting someone, and we've found out that is where the SELLING has to come in. Some people doing these CO-OP ads make it sound like SHOW AND TELL, all you have to do is show the giant 9x12 postcard and the business practically THROWS the 495 bux at you.

Which is more BS. Getting ad money from a business can be very hard, especially from the mom and pop.

Anyone who has done the co-op thing, and especially the big postcard people are constantly bombarded with the latest and greatest...do it from home, with email, phone calls...and for another 97 to 297 you get the insider details.

And it turns out the lady doing it all on the phone and by email is spending 50+ hours a week making a workman's wage. But those type of biz-ops are sold via HYPE to begin with, and usually by people who have the back end of the business too.

Anyhow...there are some people who easily place menu boards and get advertisers, but it has been hard to find those people because most get discouraged with all co-op ventures when the reality of SELLING comes into it, most people can't take the RE JECT ION . And it comes at them pretty fast.

When my local ghost town was actually a busy MALL, I couldn't resist Mrs. Fields cookies fresh from the oven. The salesman? The aroma wafting through the air. About as pull or magnetic as it gets. Same for nuts at the arena, or elephant ears at the fair.

Those people chose a business that wasn't dependent on selling. Mrs. Fields never knocked on my door and used massive persuasion to get me to BUY a cookie from her, same for Little Debbie.

But back to real life examples, with co-op advertising. We've had success with restaurants, but we've run into problems getting other people to do it, and one reason why is we don't hype and BS, we tell people they have to call on business and SELL the ads, even though we help, provide scripts avail ourselves...we can't do it for them. So many of the reps in various programs drop out because of the rejection grind on their spirits.

But, we've discovered some markets, where there is both virgin territory and huge numbers, which is truly a SHOW AND TELL co-op, with the person we're showing it to, READY, WILLING, ABLE and enthused about

giving us the TWO OR THREE advertisers to make it profitable

because...

they are already sharing customers with these other businesses, it is an industry that is "in bed" with several others due to the nature of the biz.

In this case, we can SHOW AND TELL in about a 3 hour day, ONE DAY A WEEK, and generate enough business for the week, which requires about 5 to 8 hours to take care of.

Sorry about being so long winded, but I think if I had learned this many years ago, I would have taken a different course. So maybe a reader here can benefit from THE IDEA,

From THINKING about the transaction process of exchanging the money for the product/service and choose a more show and tell way of doing things than having to spend time learning persuasion, manipulation, SELLING and all that jazz.

Gordon

Last edited by GordonJ : October 22, 2019 at 10:37 AM.
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