One Over X News

Make Believe

Last Sunday I gave a training session to my subordinates on the fine art of Fantasy Selling. Yeah, I know it sounds funny. They thought so too. Still it should come as no surprise to any of you (as it came as no surprise to any of them) that I had actually thought it through and had finally rendered the selling process down to a simple determination of what is real and what is not; what is fact and what is fantasy.

One of the most profound lyrics that I have ever enjoyed comes from the Pink Floyd album Animals. Much as George Orwell portrayed the political world in Animal Farm so did Pink Floyd categorize 'people' into pigs, dogs and sheep.

The lyric that I refer to goes something like this:

"...After a while, you can work on points for style: like the club tie, the firm handshake, the sudden look in the eye and the easy smile...You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to, so when they turn their backs on you, you get the chance to stick the knife in." Circa 1976, Roger Waters and Pink Floyd.

Now why would, a sales manager by day and a would-be best selling author by night ever see the relevance in such a lyric as it pertains to training sales people.

Well, you have to know your clientele and what they have been putting up with elsewhere. My point was this: treat a customer professionally, honestly and understand that they have fantasies that need to be addressed dispelled or fulfilled. It depends on the customer.

Buying a computer often addresses a functional need but even more often it fulfills some fantasy. The biggest. meanest, baddest computer notwithstanding, the computer may serve as a vehicle into another world, another career - a fantasy.

Regardless all salespeople deal with the world of make believe. Not only do you have to get the customer to believe in you, you have to get them to believe that the computer that you think suits their needs will do everything that they can reasonably expect of it.

That was my point about selling a fantasy.


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posted by Unknown @ 7:32 PM