I have been writing articles like this for what seems like an eternity. In fact, I think I have penned close to 3000 articles since I began writing for TRO. If nothing else, you know by now that I look at marketing and sales from a different angle. One thing I can say for certain. The older I get, which means the more experienced I get, the easier it gets.
I have found along the way that sometimes we insist on shooting ourselves in the foot. We complicate this thing called sales and it doesn’t have to be that way. Since I have always considered you as entrepreneurs, rather than travel agents, I really don’t care what you sell. I know it’s travel-related, but today I’m talking to the “entrepreneurs.”
I want to share a story with you today with the understanding that there is a good chance you have heard this before. I’m going back a few years to when I was selling meetings to large corporations. It was my first sales call at this particular company and the first thing I noticed when entering the conference room were balloons and a cake.
“What are you celebrating?” I asked the meeting manager after he introduced himself. As it turned out their current vendor (our competitor) had just won an award for the service they were providing. That’s right. We were making this sales call in an attempt to knock their current vendor out of the box. And they are celebrating a current creativity award. In any business, this is known as “bad timing.”
I wanted to turn around and exit for the door. I said to my boss who was attending this initial meeting with me, “We can’t sell these people anything. They just won an award. What are we going to do?” My boss replied, “We’re here, let’s talk.” We sat down. We told them what we had to say. We left. To me this was an exercise in embarrassing futility.
Two days later my phone rang, and we were awarded the business.
As all good salespeople know, when you are given new business you stop talking. You graciously accept the opportunity and prepare to put your promises into action. Period!
Their decision puzzled me for nearly a year. Having befriended the decision maker over time, one day I asked, “Dan, why did you give us the business the day after your current vendor just won an award?” He looked at me and said without the slightest hesitation, “Mike, that was an easy decision. I didn’t like them.” I will always remember his words.
This is a key selling point: people do business with people they like. If you want to increase your sales, become more likeable. There’s also another point worth mentioning: People like people who like them.
So, if you want to get to the point where more people will start liking you, start looking for more things and more reasons to like your customers and to like your prospects. This is as close as I get to “guaranteed advice.”
Bottom Line: If you want to be more successful in sales, become more likeable.
Mike Marchev is always looking for a few more proactive travel professionals to join his Sales and Marketing Club, mike@mikemarchev.com.
*** You want more to think about? Check out my weekly podcast (Miked Up Marchev). Also listed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, and iHeartRadio.