Tuesday, January 22, 2013

I Can Sell Anything to Anyone

Reed our high school freshman has a "firmly held belief" that he can sell anything to anyone. While not strictly true, this is a very confidence building attitude to have.

It is not unusual for him to say, "Dad we have 30 bunches of Radishes left" or "20 dozen ears of sweet corn left". "Give me an hour and I will sell them all." and he does.

So how is that possible?

Reed has learned that it is a matter of working the numbers. Everyone that comes to our booth gets asked nicely if they want Radishes and gets an explanation of why they are the best Radishes. 300 customers later if only 10% wanted Radishes he has sold them all. If you talk to enough folks you can't loose. If those Radishes are truely the best, you will have some very happy customers that will be back next week.

To move more product, he would also tell you to never reduce the price as this leads to the preception that there is less value.

You also have to be fearless and be able to handle a little mild rejection from time to time. There will always be the customer who says, "Tisk, tisk, I can get these cheaper at Walmart". We just smile and wish them a good day. (They will often be back the next week, because rubber radishes from the big box store just didn't look or taste the way the customer remembers they should .)

So how can you sell 15 worm farms in a morning when not a single pesrson came to the market looking for a worm farm. You will have to ask Reed the secret to that one.

Maybe Reed should start a blog on the principles of buying, selling and negotiating.

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