morning friends
how are you doing this fine day I've got
a really fun information-packed little
talk on our drive this morning see if my
mr. Graham friends can join us we're at
if doom is and yet this film appears to
be shaping connection while as this
phone has a connection so
nonetheless onward and upward Dartmouth
will talk about the three top tips
instagrams on their - hey never done his
term life is exciting so I'm doing this
within stories so that we have a little
bit more time to cover what we need and
we'll see how it goes I was gonna go pro
it today as well I do look a little like
Mission Control here in the car but you
know we got the GoPro all set up but
they don't think I didn't check was to
recharge the battery again last night so
I guess during the night without even
using the battery die large that coke
please that's right okay just so you
know we're gonna talk about sales in the
top three tips I learned and selling
quilts for many years here's how that
went down after I practice law for five
years a lot of my family members we're
in the quilt business which seems kind
of funny we're not real quilty or real
crafty particularly so these were
primarily imported quilts just uses
bedding think home decor basically so I
said you know I went home to East Texas
and my mom she'll be on a little pick
clipboard she goes you're a lawyer and I
make more money and you do and all she
had was a little shop on the side of the
road and she showed me her books and she
was right she's like there's something
wrong about this and she was able to get
out and about during the day she had
some folks helping her run the shop so
she pretty quickly convinced me that
this was the life I wanted life of the
entrepreneur I've never regretted it
never looked back
so for 20 years we have sweets
until the end of 2015 a matter of fact
but you know what I've learned is sales
is sales is sales and the reason I say
we're all in sales if you're a teacher
you're selling to that parent that's
upset with you at that moment that you
really have their their child's best
interests at heart if you are in the
hospital working and you're needing a
promotion you're selling your boss on
your value so sales is important in life
no matter what you do I really believe
that if you're a lawyer I promise you
you're in sales I learned that you are
selling that jury on accepting your side
the facts as to the other side so it's
very important that we learn to sell at
the very best level possible and I was
very fortunate to come from a family of
salesmen my mother and my brother are
great salesmen those of you who saw my
tom ferry talk we have heard the story
about easy money and my brother in his
convenience stores he is such a natural
salesman and so is my mom so here's the
tips I have learned by observing because
truly I was the shy child of this group
but you know you can't really survive in
a real outgoing family lets you just get
on the boards that's what I did okay
lesson number one lower the barrier to
shopping lower the barrier how many
times have you gone in the store and
they say can I help you may I help you
what do you say No thank you I'm just
okay that's what everyone says it's very
rare to have someone come in and say yep
I'm here about a queen-size oh no two
shams they don't that's not how it
worked everyday everyday I had people
leave when I was in there selling saying
man I sure didn't think I was gonna bike
well today and I said if we only sell
quills to people that thought they were
gonna buy a quilt today we'd be hungry
let me tell you it's all impulse buy
none of us need anything but when you
find someone who can make the process
enjoyable understandable and you feel
like you're getting the right product
you're in right and certainly this comes
as two add-ons to the sell we'll get
there later so lower the barriers to
entry to making a purchase what do I
mean by that my mom taught me she said
okay when somebody's walked through the
quilt show room and they've touched more
than one quilt or they've gone back with
that quilt hanging on the wall two or
three times they just touched it she
goes they're interested in it they may
or may not be able to buy but let's get
the conversation going so what she would
tell me not to say is she said do not
ask them would you like to see this
quilt the answer will still be 80% of
the time no thank you I'm just looking
because they feel pressure they feel if
you get it out and open it there's gonna
be pressure so she told us she said if
thank you she said if they have touched
it more than once thank you sir have a
good one she said if they have touched
it more than once they want to see it
just go pick it up and open it don't ask
him take the guilt
and the pressure off just open it okay
so how you do this we would go pick up
the quilt and open it put it on the bed
and I would say either something to the
effect of I haven't seen this one in a
while all right I'm gonna take a look at
this one or we need to refold it anyway
it's good for the quilts so what we were
saying all of which was true you know
you don't get creases in the same place
but think about it what we're doing is
taking the pressure off oh gosh she's
gonna open something after by I haven't
seen this one you know what or Jane come
in here look at this I don't think
you've seen this new pattern whatever
took the pressure off to get the
conversation started and get the quilt
open then they didn't feel pressured
they were enjoying seeing it because
they clearly wanted to see it and then
the conversation would start to go
something along the lines of oh yeah I
do like that one here's kind of similar
did you look at it I go yeah you know I
was kind of eyeballing that one then you
get that out I always said if I could
get two quilts on the bed I had better
than 50% of chance that I was gonna sell
them a quilt and they had no intention
to buy because at that point it becomes
well should we keep this one in the yes
pile or the maybe pile
yes or no I got a maybe I don't like
that one as well so I was like let's get
this thing out it's just gonna confuse
us so we'd either toss it aside or
depending on time we might fold it up
cuz the point we wanted to make once you
get them invested in the language of I
like this one better than that one then
something I think in our brain just
starts to change that starts to become
which one do you like I like this one
okay well I like that part of this one
and now they're in the process they're
relaxed and they're enjoying the
shopping and that's what we all wanted
to do Lucy's point number one in sales
is lower the barrier make it easy no
pressure where they don't feel like if
you start the conversation they have to
buy just start a very casual enjoyable
conversation
not gonna work out point number two is
Owen I learned the hard way
point out distinctions in the quilts the
properties the dresses the makeup line
whatever it is point out differences
without making judgments by this I mean
at one point I'll never forget having
two beautiful quilts laid out and one of
them had this border that went like this
it's called a sawtooth border it's much
more difficult to make it's a lot of
effort it's more expensive generally and
I made the mistake of say I said you
know what um this one has this beautiful
sawtooth border it gets a lot of work to
do this whereas this one has a plain
border I used the word plain and I saw
her face change instantly and her answer
is Hills um I kind of liked that one and
I was like killing sales that was always
our famous nine men to kill themselves
so you got to watch your wording so from
then on I never did that again from then
on it became this one has this very
intricate sawtooth border there's so
much work goes into this but this one
has a very clean line and some people
like a real modern clean okay so see now
they're both positive they're just
different so I wasn't being my judgment
on the product I was pointing out
positive attributes of both and letting
them lead me the direction I also
learned that we don't all speak the same
language I remember asking a gentleman
one time what do you think you're
looking for he goes I'm gonna Southwest
will I said well I've learned the hard
way that people mean a lot of different
things by that so what does the
Southwest will mean to you because you
know red white blue blue all right let's
go do that cuz I'm thinking you mean
back in the day in the 90s when you'd
have like an orange and purple coyote
wearing a kerchief on something that was
that was Southwest with dreamcatchers
everywhere because you know red white
and blue so make sure you're using the
same terminology and make sure the
terminology is all positive this poor
18-wheelers has so much trouble making
that turn all people make it he's gonna
make it okay we
okay so number one we're gonna lower the
barriers we're gonna put no pressure on
and we're not gonna ask do they want to
see something we're just gonna start
showing it just because we want to the
pressures off they can just come along
for the ride
number two we're gonna point out
positive distinctions without putting
any of our judgments on it and number
three perhaps most important my momma
taught me
she said you don't ever stop selling
till they say whoa Hilo I don't know
what well Hilo is maybe it's a boy scout
term it seems like it but she said until
they say whoa Hilo you keep selling so
in our first shop and post she taught me
this lesson she was in there with me and
we'd sell this woman I want to Saturday
$800 worth of betting and she checked
out she'd done her whole purchase but
mom knew it she said she said this
woman's on a roll she is enjoying this
whole process we're gonna sell her some
more so she she took she told the ladies
she goes now I'm gonna show you one more
thing and I knows not gonna be for today
but you have got to see it she went and
got out our secret weapon the red
postage stamp quilt the pieces were
literally the size of a postage stamp
she held this $300 thing up the lady
said I've gotta have it I gotta have it
goes back after the car gets her purse
comes back in and checks out again she
goes you were gonna leave money on the
table you quit before she had said whoa
he looked I can't buy any more and
that's the point of what you stopped I
would also use this when it came to
accessories because with quilts smooth
its own
we did either so Donna sharp quilt let's
say for 300 bucks or we would sell $1
sharp it's a quilt with all of the
goodies assess threes and I cooked her
home
for 800 bucks I like the second one lot
better so we learned real quickly to
sell them the shams of the euros the
euro stuffers the dust ruffle and
usually a solid color quilt to put with
it and how do you do that without
selling pushing well here's how I did it
I would show them and they block well we
don't need the euros just the ones in
front I said okay you know what that's
great
and I'm gonna sell you as much as the
budget allows and so today it may not
allow it but let me do this let me show
you now what it's gonna look like when
you get home and make sure you're cool
with that that it's still what you want
because otherwise I haven't really
helped you if I don't show you so I
would go remove the euros and I suddenly
the regular shams at all it's kind of
flat it doesn't look at all like what
they saw and at least 50% of the time
they feel like yeah you're right it kind
of we need the whole thing and they
would take the whole set or sometimes I
would tell them the budget may not allow
today but I need you to at least have
seen everything available and I've done
my job and you tell me where the budget
draws the line that's where we'll stop
but let me show you everything and more
often than not we could go from three to
eight hundred dollars by upselling what
I knew they actually needed if they had
the money they actually needed it or
their bed wasn't going to look like the
show bed so belief in the product you're
selling whether it's yourself your
services whatever it is and know that by
selling to them you're actually serving
them you're actually helping them get
what they need I'll never forget my
girls dad berry saying one time and it
was a great point you know he said
before we had married in the past he
because you know I went in one time
looking for cowboy boots and I told the
guy I wanted a lifetime boot and he
found a pair of boots he liked to go
that's a lifetime but yes a lifetime
boot right there
and he goes you know I realized later
they know lifetime boots not $400 for
certainly and he goes but you know deep
down all I really wanted was the guy to
tell me I was making a great choice he
wanted me to reconfirm that what I liked
was a good choice a good
and I was smart and capable and choosing
a great loot and I think a lot of time
that's what people really want sometimes
we over advocate by showing every little
nook and cranny negative thing we can
dig up versus saying they're enjoying
this process nothing wants perfect
we're not misrepresenting anything but
they're wanting to enjoy it they're
wanting to feel good about what they're
buying so be positive believe in
yourself believe in your service believe
in the product you're selling and all
will be well so I look forward to
talking to you guys tomorrow we're
supposed to have caravan I hope there's
blue skies cuz I see some gray clouds
and they will cancel so uh let's talk
tomorrow
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