I came across this the other day in a book published a few years ago.
It’s a short story describing a very bold but effective sales meeting.
It may not be a strategy many of us would think of using, but it’s a fantastic example of very canny selling; not for the fainthearted though.
The salesman in question is Bill Kessler who at the time was manager of the transportation division of Velcro USA.
Bill had flown to Europe to meet the chief engineer of a car manufacturer (a huge market for Velcro).
The chief engineers’s greeting was ‘We have no need for your product’.
Bill replied ‘Fine’. He shut his briefcase and prepared to leave.
The engineer was stunned by this, ‘You’ve flown all the way from America just to see me, aren’t you going to try harder for an order?’
‘No point,’ Bill replied. ‘If you don’t use Velcro you’ll either go broke, and why would we want to do business with a company heading for bankruptcy? Or you’ll be taken over by a Japanese company. We already do business with all of them anyhow.’
‘Hmmmm,’ said the engineer, ‘perhaps we should start again.’
A substantial order followed.
This strategy, known as ‘Closing the Bag’, can be very effective in returning a client to reality and removing their natural sales resistance. Use it with care.
The story comes from a book titled ‘Winning New Business, How to deliver Successful Sales Presentations’, by Dr David Lewis. Loads of useful tips for anyone with anything to sell. Not sure if it still in print but there are cheap used copies on Amazon, etc.
Amazing sales presentation
I came across this the other day in a book published a few years ago.
It’s a short story describing a very bold but effective sales meeting.
It may not be a strategy many of us would think of using, but it’s a fantastic example of very canny selling; not for the fainthearted though.
The salesman in question is Bill Kessler who at the time was manager of the transportation division of Velcro USA.
Bill had flown to Europe to meet the chief engineer of a car manufacturer (a huge market for Velcro).
The chief engineers’s greeting was ‘We have no need for your product’.
Bill replied ‘Fine’. He shut his briefcase and prepared to leave.
The engineer was stunned by this, ‘You’ve flown all the way from America just to see me, aren’t you going to try harder for an order?’
‘No point,’ Bill replied. ‘If you don’t use Velcro you’ll either go broke, and why would we want to do business with a company heading for bankruptcy? Or you’ll be taken over by a Japanese company. We already do business with all of them anyhow.’
‘Hmmmm,’ said the engineer, ‘perhaps we should start again.’
A substantial order followed.
This strategy, known as ‘Closing the Bag’, can be very effective in returning a client to reality and removing their natural sales resistance. Use it with care.
The story comes from a book titled ‘Winning New Business, How to deliver Successful Sales Presentations’, by Dr David Lewis. Loads of useful tips for anyone with anything to sell. Not sure if it still in print but there are cheap used copies on Amazon, etc.