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There, There – That’s Better
Make Promises You Can Keep
by Jerry Hocutt

“If I take golf lessons with you, will I be on the pro circuit next year?”

Well...NO!  Duh.

“If I buy your computer will I become a geek whiz?”

See line two above.

“If I vote for you will you make me rich, safe, and happy?”

See lines two and four.

“Martha, if I buy your cookbook will it make me a better cook?”

That’s better.  Like Martha Stewart, the best we can do as salespeople is to make people or things better.  We can’t make people successful, geniuses, or rich and happy.  At best we’re enablers – not miracle workers.  We can point customers in the right direction, but we can’t take them there.

I can sell you a lawnmower, but if you never use it the grass will still continue to grow.

As salespeople we don’t need to deliver the perfect service, product, or price.  And we’re not responsible if the customer misuses or doesn’t use what he buys.  But it is our responsibility to help make customers and their situations better – if they want our help.  We can’t save them, but we can help them to save themselves.

Sizzle sells – but you can’t eat it

The title of Donald Trump’s new book, Think BIG and Kick Ass in Business and Life, over-promises that you, too, can become a Donald.  Really?  Come on.  Really?  As a kid, when you bought your Air Jordans did you hang in mid-air like Mike?  Score like Mike?  Have the grace of Mike?  To become a legendary country singer/songwriter, did you take a hammer and sandpaper to your guitar to make it look and sound like Trigger?  (That’s Willie Nelson’s barely guitar.)  Are you ready to go on the road again? 

You’ve seen the books, the seminars, and the hype.  “Attend my seminar and be rich and successful like me.”  “Make millions buying foreclosed properties like I did.”  “Buy my diet book and be thin like me.”

I guess the hype works.  People buy it.  But I learned early in my sales career that there’s only one promise we need to make.  It’s one we can keep.

I can help to make things better

“If you buy and use what I sell, it will make you or your situation better.  Not perfect.  Better.”  And isn’t that all we really want?  To get, be, or feel better.

We don’t buy glasses because they’ll return our youthful 20/20 vision.  We buy them to see better.  You don’t buy a Volvo because it makes you a safer driver, but because it does a better job of keeping you safe.  You continue to learn not because it will make you a genius, but because it helps you to make better choices and decisions.

As salespeople, we make promises we shouldn’t be making when we don’t need to.

“Do business with our staffing agency and we can eliminate all your employment worries.”  Uh-huh.  Sure you can. 

Why not “The reason we have so many satisfied clients is because we train our staff to be better at finding better qualified applicants so we won’t waste your time”? 

“Will my sales increase if I advertise with you?”

“No one can – or should – make that promise. What I can promise you is a better placement of your ad before a better qualified audience of buyers than any other newspaper in the city.”  That’s credible.

People attending my seminars have asked if they will make calls as good as me, find lots of customers, and overcome their fear of rejection.

No.  No.  And no.

“Will I make calls as good as you?”  You may already be better than me.  If not, I don’t want you to be as good as me.  I want you to be better than me.  I want you to be better than you are now.

“Will I find lots of customers if I attend your seminar?”  Not if you keep sitting on your duff.  I’ll make you better at finding them, but you’ve still got to make the calls.   

“Will I eliminate the fear of rejection?”  Will the quarterback never get leveled by the blitzing safety?  That’s part of the game.  But I can make you better at dealing with rejection.  Better at bouncing back.  Better at making more calls as the rejections pile on.

Don’t promise the moon

Keep it simple: help make people and their situations better.

Making things better and making promises is something I learned from mom.  As she bandaged my five-year old scraped knees and elbows from doing my towel-caped Superman impersonation and jumping off the top of the garage, she didn’t promise to make my body parts whole again.  She made a promise she could keep.  “There, there,” she said as she wiped away the tears, “that will be better.”

Thanks for the lesson mom.  Make it better.  Make promises you can keep.

Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie?

June sheep sleep soundly.

Lesser leather never weathered lesser wetter weather.

Moms are Perfect Marketers
“Find a need and fill it.” – Ruth Stafford Peale

7-10-14-22-27-35
“It seems ironic that all the people who hate the rich are the ones that are in line buying lottery tickets.” – Unknown

Her Lips are Sealed
“I wasn’t kissing your daughter, sir – I was just whispering in her mouth.” – Chico Marx

Aha!
“One is always a long way from solving a problem until one actually has the answer.” – Stephen Hawking