HOW TO WIN THE SALE BEFORE THE SALE HAPPENS
This story highlights something called the precursor effect. For your product or service, think about what has to happen right before the sale. Then, back up and say what has to happen for the decision to explore your product. In the furniture salesman’s case, home sales acted as the flashpoint for the decision to buy furniture. The top salesman used the precursor effect to contact new homeowners after a home sale. To embrace the precursor effect, think about the prospect’s timeline for buying your product or service. Hop in a marketing time machine and go backwards in time. Look at this from the prospects point of view. What events trigger the desire or need to buy your product. What has to happen right before a prospect decides to buy? Find this on the timeline, and then put yourself there first.
An up and coming furniture salesman decides to study the other salesman in his firm. He’s able to narrow down the top 20% of producers. In the top 20%, he finds one who dwarfs the top 20% by a shocking margin. The young furniture salesman studies the top producer versus the others in the top 20%. At first, he can’t spot the difference. They all dress well. They all speak well. They have confident body language. They know their product features like the back of their hand. The young salesman asks himself, “Is the top furniture salesman at this firm lucky?” The young furniture salesman goes to the top producer and makes an offer. He buys him lunch in exchange for some advice. During lunch, the young furniture salesman asks the top producer his secret…
“How is it that you dress, talk, and act similar to the other top producers but outsell them by a 3 to 1 margin?”
The top furniture salesman smiles and says, “Because I know what is going to happen before it happens.”
Intrigued by this statement, the young salesman prods for more information…
The top salesman says, “People never buy furniture for no reason. And most people buy new furniture for two reasons. Renovation is second place.”
The young salesman says, “And what’s the first?”
The top salesman leans forward and says, “New home purchases. You see, I don’t wait for customers to walk through the door. I work out deals with real estate agents around town for leads in exchange for commission or advertising.”
“How does it work?” asks the young salesman.
Don Sevcik is the Creator of the fastest math tutor on the planet giving 8.1 million people help with 102 million math problems. He's also the best-selling author of five books. Contact Don at donsevcik@gmail.com.
“When somebody buys a house, they’ll need furniture. So the home sale becomes a trigger point. If I know who bought a house, I have a pretty good idea who needs furniture.”
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