Step right up and don't be shy, because you will not believe your eyes...
Ding dong...🔔
“Good afternoon Mr. Quintero! Your neighbor Mr. Harris suggested I come see you, my name is Michael. Nice to meet you sir!”
Michael was a young man, barely two years into college, that “hooked” me from the minute he began chatting with me.
“Mr. Harris tells me you’re an entrepreneur! And quite the neighborhood chef too!”
“Mr. Quintero, I aspire to start my own business once I get out of college and I hope to be as successful as yourself. It is apparent by your beautiful home that you must be very good at what you do.”
Go on…
“While studying business at Georgia Tech, I’ve been working very hard at improving my skills and I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes to listen to my sales pitch and give me any pointers or advice? ”
Michael’s sales pitch was flawless.
He shared his personal goals with us (Yeah, he hooked Judy too!), developed rapport right away, and told us about his family all while setting up his demo.
He sliced, he diced. He had us slice and dice. He showed us how the Cutco knives glided effortlessly past even the toughest materials. He explained how our current knives simply couldn’t hold up to the demanding Cutco standards. He even brought up problems that could arise from using our current set of knives. And then... he cut a freakin’ penny in half with a pair of Cutco shears! 😳
“And by the way Mrs. Quintero, these have a LIFETIME warranty and we will sharpen them for FREE anytime you need them sharpened. This means that your two delightful young boys sitting over there can inherit them from you and enjoy them with your grandchildren one day.”
45 minutes and $1,400 later…
I was the proud owner of a beautiful set of Cutco Knives that I still own to this day! (Damn you Eddie!!!)
🎓 Sales 101
Sales is what makes the world go ‘round. Nothing happens until something is sold.
You wouldn’t have a business or work where you do without sales.
No Sales = No Business
Yet most people HATE sales.
Most businesses that I have advised or consulted that were having a “sales” problem, meaning not enough sales, all had the exact same problem: they simply were not pitching their products or services on a daily basis. They were all taking a passive approach to sales. They opened their doors, they set up shop, and they waited for things to come to them.
They would post things on social media, fix something on their websites, work on meaningless tasks… Basically, they would do anything but the ONE THING that was going to bring money through the door. Sell their products or services.
Remember: Everything you do in your business or line of work has to prioritize revenue. If no money is coming in, you’re done. Dead in the water.
Luckily, this is a pretty simple problem to fix. Especially if you do two things:
Change how you think about selling: Rather than thinking that you’re “selling” something to a customer, understand that your products or services are serving your customers and helping to make their lives better.
Follow a simple sales process, consistently - every time!
📈 Extremely SIMPLE 3-Step Sales Process
My favorite sales process is not complicated at all, and very easy to remember - PWS. And it applies to ANY industry:
1️⃣ Identify a PROBLEM or need that your customer has or may not even know they have.
2️⃣ Make the problem WORSE. Explain what happens if you don’t fix it.
3️⃣ Offer them the SOLUTION.
Michael clearly did this as he walked me down the path of why I NEEDED these $1,400 knives in my life.
But here’s another real-life example of this sales process at work…
Several years ago I met a guy at a local business event. After chatting for a few minutes and exchanging niceties, I asked him what he did.
He said to me, “I help entrepreneurs and small business owners manage risk.”
Hmm…. I was definitely intrigued by this.
“Have you thought about what would happen to your business if you didn’t have internet access for a month or if all of your data was wiped out by a hacker?” (He identified a problem I didn’t know I had…and now I was like, “Oh shit…”)
“That would be horrible, but it would be even worse if your customers sued you because their data landed in the hands of a hacker. Actually, just last week, I read about a company that was sued for $1 million because of a data breach.” (Now my problem, that a few minutes ago I didn’t even know I had, became REALLY big.)
“That’s why I love helping entrepreneurs manage those kinds of risks with different kinds of business insurance policies that cover those kinds of things!” (He offered me a solution to my problem)
Please TAKE MY MONEY!!!
Do you think I would have paid any attention to him if he would have told me from the get-go that he was an insurance agent? Yeah...exactly.
Now it’s your turn...
What about your pitch? How can you turn it into a compelling story using the PWS sales process?
Also, are you actively selling every day? And I don’t mean just on social media. I mean actively looking for business in person, on the phone, or over Zoom. If not, you’re missing out on a TON of money that is going to your competition.
Need more ideas on how to incorporate this sales process into your business? Drop me a note or come to my Facebook group and I would be happy to give you ideas specific to your business.
Now go out there and sell something dammit! 🤑
💡 More Big Ideas & Stuff
These are the things that I’m listening to, watching, reading, discovering, or enjoying this week. Click the links and enjoy them with me.
📻 Listen - This guy makes over $1million a year teaching people to play piano - My friend Pat Flynn is genuinely one of the nicest people on the planet. He’s a brilliant entrepreneur that shares amazing info and stories on his podcast every week. This week he interviewed Jacques Hopkins, an engineer who quit his job to teach people how to play piano online.
📺 Watch - How reinventing a 120 year old game made these 3 friends multi-millionaires.
🛒 Buy - These clothes help cure blindness - My sister-in-law turned me on to these guys and their cause last week. This is near and dear to my heart because my great grandfather was blind. These brothers’ stories are incredible and their polos are the BEST! While visiting their website, make sure to click the yellow box with the eye on it so that you can experience first-hand how they see the world.
🧰 New Tools - Need inspiration and ideas to help make your online ads bring in a truckload of moolah? Check out d2see - A platform with the best ads from all of the TOP D2C brands in the world.
As always, keep coming up with ideas, dreaming big, and taking action!
‘Till next time...
Ralph Q out!
P.S. - I know you’re thinking of someone who could find this newsletter life changing… It would be awesome of you to share it with them. They will never forget you for it...Just like I’ve never forgotten Michael from Cutco 😉
Just forward them this email or send them this link: http://ralphq.com/newsletter so they can sign up. You can also send them this one to read all the past issues: http://ralphq.com/past-issues
P.P.S. - The Spotify playlist is getting bigger! 🎧 (If you’re new here, every newsletter title is a lyric to a song...and those song are all in this playlist)