CREATING POWER!
Most salespeople don’t capitalize on familiarity enough. I like doing business with people that I know. I like it that you already know what I like, what I want, and how to talk to me. I like it that you already know what my expectations are and how I want to be serviced. I like it that we have an experience that we survived together. But I wonder if the salesperson feels the same way; after all, he rarely calls me after he sells me.
Do you not think I’ll buy another suit, another computer, another cell phone, television, house, appliance, car, another piece of property, or make another investment? Do you think I’m done because I already played with you once? Do you think I ran out of money or that this was the last time any human being would close me on a similar product? Do you think that you captured the entire amount of my credit limit? Always remember, you won’t be the person who sells the customer for the last time. The question is, will you sell him the next time? I can assure you that if you don’t stay in touch with your power base, including your previous customers, you’ll never attain power in your business. Never neglect your former customers!
If you want to guarantee certainty in your sales production and ensure yourself a long and happy career in selling, stay in touch with the people in your power base. Love them, call them, wine and dine them, send them presents, and continue to show interest in them.
I bought my first real estate investment from a friend. He’d been told by his mentor after months of working with me that I would never buy anything from him and that he was wasting his time with me. I bought forty-eight units, and the following month I bought another thirty-eight. So much for the mentor with the great advice. But the story doesn’t stop there. This guy became my partner and quit the firm he was working for to manage the property that I had bought from him. He thought I was done after these first two purchases and quit aggressively looking to buy more. I would call him to say I was looking for more deals, and he would be pessimistic about the prices and my probable ability to purchase more. Another long-term friend of mine, Dale, happened to be in my office after I’d hung up with my new partner in frustration. Dale asked if I would give him the same deal as I gave my other partner if he found me some deals. I told him yes, and shortly thereafter I started working with him on opportunities. Over the next two years, I bought another 400 units, and then another 1,500 after that.
My first partner is a great guy and did very well for himself, but he violated his power base. My old friend Dale made millions off the deal by staying close to his power base and working it. By the way, Dale had no experience in real estate and the first guy did. He was flat broke at the time we hooked up—fifty-two years old with less than sixty dollars to his name. Today he’s a multimillionaire. That’s a true story. Dale saw the opportunity to work his own power base and he grabbed it. The moral of the story is to stay in touch with the people in your power base.
Keep as much attention on the people you just sold as you do on the people that you want to sell next. And build power from your power base!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN QUESTIONS
What does the author suggest is one of the most violated basics people overlook when trying to sell their ideas or products?
Make a list of ten people in your power base.
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What is the worst part of making a sale?
What is one of the most overlooked opportunities for making additional sales?
What does the author suggest are the five reasons that an existing or past customer is an easier sale than someone you don’t know?
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TIME
HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE?
The most powerful man in the world has 24 hours in a day to get done what he needs to get done. The richest man in the world has 3,600 minutes in a day to earn his money. The most educated man in the world has 168 hours in a week to learn. The greatest athlete in the world has 365 days in a year to train. How much time do you have?
When people tell me that they don’t have enough time to do what they need to get done, I don’t believe it. I recently read that the average person in this country watches three hours of television a day, which translates into 67,500 minutes a year. Do you realize how many phone calls you could make in a year with that much time? If every call lasted only three minutes, you could make an extra 22,500 phone calls a year. That would be 1,875 calls a month. 75 calls a day! If you did only a portion of that you would reach the top half of the top 1 percent of all the salespeople in your industry.
It’s actually a lie when you tell yourself that you don’t have enough time! The fact is, you have the same amount of time as everyone else; you just aren’t using it efficiently. We all have the same 24-hour days, amounting to 8,760 hours a year. If you don’t know how much time is available, I assure you that you haven’t decided how to use it. If you agree that time is money, then you should inventory and protect your time just like you would anything that is valuable.