Learn to Sell Like a Kid

We had the Grandsons at the lake this weekend and I realized they are natural Salesmen. They use all of the tools they have to get us to do what they want or to put it another way, to buy what they are selling. Without any formal training they have mastered three of the essential skills needed to be successful in Sales and Sales Management.

Persistence

After this weekend I don’t think our grandsons know the Webster’s definition of “no”. It’s obvious that “no” means “not yet” to them. They realize when told “no” they just haven’t got you prepared to buy what their selling. If we could just get ourselves and our Account Managers to believe that when a customer says “no” that may mean “not yet”. We just haven’t got our customer ready to buy what we are selling.

Leading

When the boys can’t get you to understand what they want you to do, they will grab your finger and show you. They don’t seem to get frustrated with our lack of understanding, they just show us. How many times as Account Manager’s do we know that our customers may not understand the products or services we are offering? We must be willing, like a young child, to take them by the hand (maybe not literally) and show them.

 Cost/Benefit Analysis

The boys have conquered the cost/benefit analysis and presentation. They can come up with (on a moment’s notice) reasons why we will benefit by giving them what they want or buy what they are selling. I have to admit their reasoning’s are usually pretty solid and hard to dismiss. However, if reasoning doesn’t work they are willing to bring pain (needs) into the analysis. You will see an example of this in the process below. We all know that in order to be successful in sales you must be able to show that the benefits exceed the cost of your products or services. In many cases you must identify the need or customer’s pain (in our grandsons case create the pain) before selling the benefits of your products.

The Child’s Sales Process using only Natural Ability

Kids don’t have the luxury of Sales Managers, Sales Books or Sales Training to teach them how to sell. They have no fancy sales brochures or business cards to help them start the process. They just use their natural abilities and probably the greatest selling tool –Emotional Selling.

1. If the situation requires a big friendly smile to get you to do what they want they are pros.  Who can refuse getting a cookie or turning on the cartoons for your grandkids when they give you that big toothy or toothless smile? Relationship Building: Getting your customer to like you, heck that’s Sales 101.
2. Should they feel you don’t understand what they are asking for they will take your hand and show you. While showing you they will be giving you their best cost/benefit presentation and throwing in a bit of persuasive speech to help. This is the cost/benefit analysis in full motion.
3. If that doesn’t work the smile can quickly turn to a frown, showing disappointment in your decision. They know that disappointment is an emotion that is hard to resist. We hate to disappoint them when the solution is easily solved by just getting them a cookie. This is their way of applying pressure to get the sale.  Showing disappointment and applying some pressure to get the sale is another valuable tool in everyone’s sales toolbox.
4. The final straw (step), create pain. If nothing else has worked, here come the tears (if not already used above), stomping around and possibly a little mad fit. They know that if they can create enough pain their closing rate gets much better. For kids this is a make or break strategy. It could end up getting the cookie or spending a while in timeout. I do not suggest that having a mad fit in front of a customer is appropriate but finding the customer’s pain and providing a solution is a proven and successful strategy.

If they are sent to timeout you would think the process is over but that is rarely the case. Didn’t I mention something about persistence?

They just start the process over. If they still want a cookie they will ask with that charming, beautiful, toothless smile letting you know all the benefits you will get.  If that doesn’t work they will show disappointment if not given what they are asking for.

Finally, if still not able to make the sell they bring back the pain!