Professional Outside Sales

My former manager had her first interview for my old sales position and liked the guy… he seemed perfect but it was her first interview… she couldn’t decide without seeing other candidates could she?

This question will have to wait… but it did remind me about learning an amazing sales tactic when buying my first house.

My wife (girlfriend at the time) and I were young and didn’t have a lot of money or high incomes however I knew buying a home at any age was a good investment. Our real-estate agent took us to see condos in the area and the price range we were looking.  The first one was a shit hole, renters had badly damaged the walls and carpets… we were devastated and confused, we didn’t know what to expect at this price range but we didn’t think people lived like this. The second one was much better, a little smaller then we had envisioned but nice… we even talked about putting an offer in however our agent had plans for us.

The next condo was ‘the nice condo’… clean, larger, ground level with a small garden… we placed an offer and bought it that night.

Talking with our agent later I asked about the first two and why she even showed us the shit hole… she said it was part of the plan.  She wanted us to know what was in the area for that price and that if she had showed us the last place first we wouldn’t have been as impressed with it.

I now see her situation as a professional sales person, had we not been happy with seeing ‘the nice condo’ we couldn’t have even looked at the other two.  We would have quickly looked at a different area or prices we couldn’t afford dragging out the process. We may have had to ’settle’ for something else giving us less emotional value to the process. I am so happy we had a Professional Agent who made the best situation for us and her.

When you offer your products do you offer the best the client can afford the first time? Can you offer lesser products that would help them make a faster decision with more conviction when you get to the right one?

PS: My former manager did hire the guy, he was a good candidate and she knew it could take months to find someone better… and ‘better candidates’ don’t always become better employees.