Comments on: What Kind of Salesperson Are You?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:32:18 +0000

Tony:
I suppose this is why we are all here , to learn from David and his coaches .. and each other, how we can connect with others, and how to avoid coming across as manipulative or like a PUA.
I have this wonderful analogy when it comes to cold calling. I call it “barfing” This is when you fail to talk to the potential client( or sexy produce shopper) to even see if there is interest, instead opting to spew out your scripted lines … no real interaction, no connection. BLAHHHHGH and then try to close them??
I’m can’t speak from experience but I believe this probably is what a lot of the PUA community is teaching… canned lines and magic(smoke and mirrors), and I can’t imagine it working on too many intelligent women.
This is the place to learn how to be real and genuine…. and that is never a bad thing.

By: Tony888

Tony888 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:52:42 +0000

True Jeff. Neither the woman in the produce section or the potential Gutter Guard customer wants to feel strong-armed into something they’re uncertain about or not ready for or not interested in.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:49:28 +0000

Great blog David! i just love this stuff
The psycology is the same weather you’re selling gutter guard to a homeowner , or trying to get to know the interesting woman in the produce section. Most of us are more than willing to at least listen to what someone else has to offer as long as we feel a level of comfort with them. So the difficulty that we all struggle with is how to make someone feel comfortable enough (in a short span of time) to listen and more importantly TRUST what is being presented.

By: Khiem (DW Coach)

Khiem (DW Coach) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:50:43 +0000

I’ve been in the cold calling business before. Never liked it!

I had to call people and try to get them to do opinion polls… and it was the hardest thing for me. On the reverse… I was very good when I did tech support. People called me!

By: Tony888

Tony888 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:47:32 +0000

And speaking of cold calls and pushy salesman I’ve run into a few. A few weeks ago some door to door salesman came through my neighborhood wanting to sell something called GutterGuard, which is basically a protective screen over your gutters so leaves won’t fall in & clog them up.

It was a nice day and I was willing to give one of their reps a few minutes, say 3-4 minutes. I noticed another one of them in the same blue shirt was working the other side of the street. He started pressuring me into letting them come back the next day and give some kind of demonstration. Against my better judgment I gave him my # when he asked for it, saying his boss would call later to confirm the appointment. I told him I’d just have to look over the pamphlet he had handed me and would think about it.

I went back inside and sat down here at my comp and the telephone rang. It was their boss calling just like the salesman said he would. This was only 5 minutes later! I kid you not. They must have typed my # into some kind of PDA which e-mailed or texted my # to HQ. So I explained to that guy I’d need to look over the pamphlet and think about it, especially since the next day was going to be busy. The guy said he wanted to talk with me on the phone right then if he could and I said I needed to get work done, “so I have to go now, bye.”

Less than 10 seconds after I’d hung up, the guy called again! At that point I was officially pissed. He asked me why I hung up and began to resume his hard sell approach. So I told him, “You know, you just lost whatever chance you might’ve ever had to sell me anything. I told you I was busy & needed time to look over your material, but now you’ve blown it. Goodbye!!” And do you believe the asshole had the audacity to call me again and tell me that was not a very professional & courteous attitude and he started scolding ME! So I slammed the phone down on him and swore I’d call the police and the phone company for harassment if he dared call again.

That’s been a few weeks ago and we’ve had several nice days since, but they haven’t been back through this neighborhood. I suspect the other people on this street were as annoyed by them, particular the caller as I was. I doubt they’ll be back here. When it comes to social cluelessness and incompetence, I think that guy must be even worse than me! And that’s saying something!

By: Tony888

Tony888 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:26:20 +0000

a.movie:

I’d be curious to know how you struck up conversations with people based on what movie(s)they brought up to the counter to check out. Or what ?s you would ask them. How did it usually begin? Did they ask you a question first, like “Is this a good movie?” or did you look at their selection and add a suggestion based on that?

Did you say something like, “I see you like Hugh Grant movies. Have you tried Notting Hill or About a Boy?

Or if somebody was renting 300 did you say “If you like this movie, I know you’ll love Braveheart or Gladiator.” ?

By: Hamburger

Hamburger — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:39:20 +0000

I agree and I found that it is an especially “Western” habit to directly come to the point. We have so much streamlined everything that we can buy a month’s supply of food in the supermarket without saying a word until we say “bye” to the person at the check-out counter.

I had a very different experience when I visited the Great Bazaar in Istanbul a couple of years ago. Although communication was a bit difficult, people just seemed to LOVE to talk. Of course you know they also want to sell something to you, but they obviously enjoy the communication. And in the end it was me who felt sorry for not being able to buy something from everybody who talked to me…

By: Canadian Vince

Canadian Vince — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:19:13 +0000

Thx for reminding us about the observation techniques again, it really helps to get the momentum going.

I am curently reading How to win friends and influence people by the author that ”Justadjustit” said. It’s a good read for today’s subject.

I shall use this blog tommorow when I have to call my insurence adjuster hehe

By: Adam DW Head Instructor - London

Adam DW Head Instructor - London — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:21:19 +0000

Hi K,
a similar thing happened with me. My parents when I was about 9 years old kept on saying to me “never talk to strangers” they drilled it into me for my own safety. The thing is, when we learn something at a young age we aften take that lesson straight into adult life. At 9 years old my parents were just trying to protect me but at 34 years of age that is just weird, but these lessons from parents get hard wired into our subconcious. So, as I often teach, we have to unlearn some of our thinking. When I interact with someone I always have in my mind that I will leave that person in a better state than when I found them…knowing this, I know that anyone is always happy to chat with me. As long as you come from a place of giving or sharing rather than trying to get something from someone then people will bond with you quickly….great blog David.

By: K

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:16:01 +0000

I have absolutely no problem answering anyone who talks to me first but I was taught to leave people alone and not BOTHER them so I don’t initiate very often. I love a good pitch of any kind – doesn’t mean that I’m buying but I appreciate anything remotely resembling a decent presentation, regardless of subject matter. But taking on that role as the initiator is really difficult for me – I just can’t seem to make it fit right/feel right.