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Kenmore, WA
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[#1] Posted: Mar 04 2005 - 10:27:14 AM |  |  |
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by Matt Michel
The Kid didn’t like the fact that he was “the kid.” He didn’t like the fact that he found himself thrust into a pure commission selling situation. He ate what he killed and he wasn’t eating much.
Things appeared to get worse when Tommy showed up. Tommy appeared out of nowhere. Within five minutes of meeting, the Kid got so mad at Tommy that he challenged him to a fight in the parking lot. They didn’t come to blows. Someone showed up with a lead. Tommy pounced on it, making a quick escape, leaving the Kid steaming.
If this wasn’t bad enough, Tommy outperformed the Kid. He closed more sales. He had a higher closing ratio. He generated his own leads. The Kid was frustrated. More than anything, the Kid wanted to succeed. He wanted to be able to do what Tommy did, even if he wasn’t going to admit it. So the Kid put up with Tommy. He swallowed his pride and followed Tommy around, watching, observing, and learning.
Since they got off to such a good start, the Kid had trouble figuring out why Tommy took him under his wing. He wondered what the angle was. He didn’t know that Tommy liked to teach and the Kid needed a teacher. The Kid also didn’t know that Tommy had never really sold before. He didn’t know that Tommy was bluffing his way through, making it up as he went along. The Kid only knew that Tommy got results and the Kid desperately wanted results. So if Tommy told the Kid to do something, he did it.
One day the Kid was driving down McGregor Boulevard. Tommy was riding shotgun. “Stop the car,” said Tommy. Thinking something was wrong with Tommy or that he hit something, the Kid slammed on the brakes. “What’s wrong?” he asked, looking around. “Pull into that driveway,” said Tommy. “What for?” “I’m going to teach you how to cold call,” he said.
Tommy waited until the Kid’s AMC Gremlin quit dieseling before continuing. He told the Kid, “Go sell this guy a new unit.” The Kid looked around. They had just passed a flat roofed house. A man was on a ladder, painting the house. Recalling the incident later, the Kid said, “Have you ever seen in the movies or TV where there’s this one smart guy and there’s the dumb guy that the smart guy always eggs on? Tommy was the smart guy and I was the dumb guy he was always egging on."
Ever one to be baited, the Kid turned around and went back to the flat roofed house. He got out a business card, but the man painting the house had gone inside. The Kid knocked on the door and pretended he was Tommy.
When the man answered the door, the Kid said. “Excuse me, I hope I’m not bothering you but I couldn’t help notice that you were painting your roof.” “Yeah. So what of it?” “Well, we’re with an air conditioning company.” The Kid held up his business card. “You’re making your roof look so much better. It makes the air conditioner look all the worse. Have you ever thought about getting a new one? You know, I can make you a pretty sweet deal on a new one if you wanted to.” “Well how much would one of those be?” The Kid shot from the hip and threw out a price. “Let me call my uncle,” said the man.
A few minutes later, the Kid was amazed. He had made a sale. No presentation. No sales pitch. A total of 15 minutes and he walked away with an order. This 15 minute sale turned things around for the Kid. He began to have faith in his own ability. He began to challenge, though never consistently surpass, Tommy.
Tommy McCart went on to become the first salesperson in the air conditioning industry to sell one million dollars worth of residential replacement equipment in a year. When he left Ron Smith’s Modern Air Conditioning to scratch the itch to teach, thousands learned his sales approach.
The Kid? Well, the Kid is Charlie Greer, who is another legendary air conditioning salesperson and sales trainer. Today, Charlie has focused more on technician training with his “Tec Daddy” DVD training system (www.HVACProfitBoosters.com and www.PlumbingProfitBoosters.com).
Charlie summed up the story of his first cold call…
1. “Don’t be afraid of asking if people want your product. They may want it.”
2. “Don’t be afraid to close right on the spot.”
3. “Don’t pre-qualify. Run every lead you get. How do you know in advance if someone is going to buy?”
There’s more to it than that. Charlie Greer and Tom McCart were part of a Ron Smith experiment to try a realtor type sales approach in the air conditioning industry. Neither had much direct, in-home sales experience before meeting Ron. Both excelled under Ron.
Hunger and desire are great motivators. They help salespeople overcome natural hesitation to try the untried. External conviction and confidence, even if little more than a veneer covering internal terror, give momentum. A touch of brashness in asking for the order, carries the momentum through to the close.
As Tommy and the Kid proved, not only does/ everyone sell, everyone can sell.
Copyright © 2004 Matt Michel - The Comanche Marketer
Source: Comanche Marketing. Reprinted by permission.
THE COMANCHE MARKETER
They were a tribe of warriors. They were masters of the horse and masters of war. Through their tactical brilliance, they overcame the inferiority of their numbers to drive the Apache out of Texas and beat back the Spanish. The Utes called them "one who fights me all the time." The Utes called them Comanches. The Comanche warrior was one who fought all of the time.
The Comanche marketer is one who markets as fiercely, as brilliantly, and as relentlessly as the Comanche fought. The Comanche marketer is "one who markets all of the time."
Free subscriptions to The Comanche Marketer are available at: http://www.serviceroundtable.com -- click on the Comanche Marketing tab.
Editor's Note:You might ask why TIJ features marketing articles written by an HVAC sales guru like Matt Michel. The answer is simple. Matt's stories are lessons learned over decades of overcoming obstacles to sales and can be applied to any profession. Home inspectors, as a breed, are uncomfortable marketing and are their own worst enemy when it comes to selling their services. Michel's lessons can help each of us defeat that enemy. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!
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Everyone Sells : Part 4 - Tommy and The Kid
