Too many people feel like selling is beyond them. “I’m just not a natural salesperson.”
I say that’s a load of crap. We are all natural born sales people. It’s just that somewhere along the line we unlearned this very natural skill.
Don’t believe me? Watch your kids.
Think Big
Kids automatically think big. They don’t think, “Oh that’s too much. I’d better think smaller.” No, they dream big.
My son is a perfect example. He is currently working on his Christmas list so I can tell the grandparents and other relatives what he wants. He has three (three!?!) items on his list that are over $200.
Now I know that having three sets of grandparents (the in-laws are divorced) means he gets a little more loot than the average kid. But I promise you, I’m not in the habit of giving him outrageous gifts. Quite the opposite in fact. Instead of the iPod he asked for two years ago, he got a generic version that cost less than $50 from Canadian Tire.
This lack of bounty obviously hasn’t deterred him however. He’s still aiming big. And if he doesn’t get the big ticket items he’s hoping for, that still won’t stop him. Several out-of-town relatives send his favorite present – cheques! Odds are if he adds them all up he’ll only have to save his allowance for a couple on months to get one of the top items on his list.
Ask the Right Person
A cornerstone of sales is making sure you’re talking to the decision maker. There’s no point in going through your entire sales process only to find out the person you’re speaking to can’t make the decision to buy.
Kids instinctively know this. When asking for something outside the norm, they know exactly which parent is the soft touch and which will say no. And if both parents are hard nosed, they head straight for the grandparents.
I remember as a child my mother wouldn’t allow me to wear jeans to school; she thought they were too casual. I just “happened” to mention this to my great aunt. She promptly went out and bought me three pairs of jeans then got on the phone with my mother. After verbally spanking her, my aunt refused to get off the phone until she had extracted a promise that the dress code would be relaxed.
No doesn’t really mean no
Persistence is the key to selling. Just because someone says no today, doesn’t mean they won’t say yes in the future. Kids have this in spades. If you say no to something they really want, they don’t hear “no”, they hear “ask me again tomorrow, and the next day and the next…”
Why do kids employ these strategies? Because they know they work. If they never got a yes, they’d eventually give up.
So, the next time you have to make a sale, learn from your kids. If a ten-year-old can do it, so can you.
Andrea J. Stenberg
