Sell Me That Pen Please

OK, so you probably hate to sell. And you most likely hate people who try to sell you something. I can understand this. I also don’t like all this people cold-calling me often to propose the offer I’m not interested. But the truth is that I like shopping. The problem with the sales people is that they very often trying to sell without the knowledge what and to whom they’re trying to sell.

If you watched “The Wolf of Wall Street” movie you probably remember when Leonardo DiCaprio asked first his friend and then (at the end of the movie) he was asking other people for the same – Sell me the pen. Maybe you even heard that kind of question during the interview. And I can bet again that most of you thought that person asking this question is the total idiot. Well, this is not true. At least not always.

I made a lot interviews with candidates and depending on position and future duties, sometimes I’m asking some “strange” questions. Yes, I know what do you think now, but please think for a while. This question is not for everyone. But if you find out when and to who to ask you can get very relevant information regarding the candidate. But let this thread for different occasion and come back to sells.

Let’s face that truth that everyone is salesperson. Literally everyone. No exceptions.

Let’s face that truth that everyone is the salesperson. Literally everyone. No exceptions. The difference is if you are salesperson occasionally or on the daily basis. Most of the people are occasionally salespersons. They are selling themselves during the interviews mostly, but they do. Then they were selling their job results on some meetings with the boss, they are selling their ideas to other people if they want to convince them, etc. The other people are making sales for a living. And many of them do it in wrong. I’m sure you met them many times.

The reason they are doing is wrong is their answer to the title question. They are doing exactly like the people from “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Just watch

Now, after this minute you probably laugh and saying – how pathetic they are. That way it’s not possible to sell anything. And you are right. The problem is that many (a lot of them) salespeople try to sell exactly that way. They don’t think about client needs, they don’t think even about the client, but they have the only product to sell in their minds.

“My product is the best”, “My product is so advanced”, “My product is exclusive”. Are you also deaf for that arguments? I am.

If you don’t think about client needs but you’re focusing only on your product, you will fail.

“Most average or newbie salespeople think that they’re supposed to sell you the pen when a really seasoned salesperson will actually turn it into a qualifying session to find out what you need. That’s the truth of it. It’s like trying to sell someone a house, and you don’t know if they’re in the market for a house, what kind of house they want, how many kids – so how can you sell someone a house? That’s the point.” – Jordan Belfort says.

Regardless what do you think about Jordan Belfort it’s hard to disagree with him. This is absolute basic of sales and at the same time the best way to sell. This is somehow funny that people familiar with online sales based on behavioral targeting do the same mistakes as people from above movie. [In close future I will write more about behavioral targeting based case studies]. They know that best results are when you target interested people with proper offer and then in “offline” they trying to sell the pen saying how great the pen is. Strange, don’t you think?

So next time if you will try to sell me something, also through a Linkedin message, please think about my needs, not only about your product. Trust me it’s even better to learn something about your potential customer who won;t buy from you than to approach her/him directly with the direct sales message. It’s much better not sell 10 times but to establish relationships with 10 people than to sell once and be disliked by 9.

So, will you try to sell me that pen?