Could Your Salespeople Sell Popsicles? by Richard Keeney

Whether called Product Specialists or Salespeople, how would yours do selling popsicles? Let me share a recent experience. I was so ready for a chocolate dessert the other afternoon and I was looking for the Yes, We’re Open sign at the ultimate popsicle store in town. Hallelujah, they were open! They sell nothing but popsicles and these are very, very special popsicles. They are $3.50 special and in my opinion worth every penny.

Well, they only had 1 chocolate in stock and they don’t do dealer trades. I felt fortunate that they had the one.  Glad they had many others to choose from, since I was already planning to get more than the one. Right behind the young Salesman was the board, the cheat sheet with inventory options.

 

The young gentleman was super nice and a great representation for the place.  Yet, he was not aware of just how much power he had to increase the stores sales.

 

As nice as he was, he lacked guidance from someone on how to sell, not just fill a specific request. He was literally going to let me leave with the 1 chocolate popsicle. I made him sell me 3 more of the other flavors. This so I could have some in the freezer for my daughter in preparation for her upcoming visit from New York where this store does not exist—she loves these.

Ok, I’ll move on with it. The appealing options behind him had me thinking about how fun it is to increase sales all while making people happy. I thought, I’d love to get behind the counter for a few hours just to see how many I could sell.

 

Well, I exited with my purchase and my mind kicked into gear as I rode down the road. I was thinking this is how I may have handled a similar situation:

“Sir, I wish we had more than the 1 chocolate, but have you ever considered the Banana Moon pie?  We stand 20 minutes from the city that started Mardi Gras (Mobile, AL) and moon pies have been huge during these celebrations. You can’t help but relive a little of Mardi Gras past when you experience one or 2 of these.

Here’s another great idea. Since they have a substantial freezer life, though they usually don’t stay in there long, you could get a couple of the Birthday Cake popsicles and know that for those last minute birthday gift ideas you’ll have some ready to go. This just might be the most unique gift that person receives, agree?

Someone told me the Key Lime Pie popsicles blew their mind!  Said it was as good as a slice of Key Lime pie from some of our local restaurants, only they didn’t have to go out to get it. Who in your family might you want to treat with one of these and maybe other flavors that are on the board? ”

People in sales will discover that they have the power to make much more happen than they ever could have imagined.

 

Are your people creative engineers that can take their product knowledge coupled with imagination and enthusiasm and get more accomplished in a customer visit?  Not just for themselves and the store, but for the customer as well.

 

If someone comes in and the unit isn’t in stock does the product specialist:

• •   Go to the desk to see if you can locate one?
• •   Do they walk around and look at some other vehicles?  Chat a bit and agree to get back with
•      the customer when some more vehicles come in (like the guest asked him to)?
• •   Or do they get things going?  Say “Hang on just a moment please, go inside and bring a key to
•      a representative model and upon return say, “while you’re here I want to share a few things
•      you deserve to know”?
• •   Do they open the hood and begin telling the story? Get the guest involved and get some
•      feedback on solutions they seek?
• •   Do they talk about the connectivity improvements that some people have an extreme
•     interest in?  For the “non-connectivity” types do they talk about all of the safety feature
•     enhancements, and the engineer’s incredible accomplishments that make the ride spectacular?
• •   Do they crank the vehicle and ask, “Mr. Lewis, since you are here, please invest
•      another 10 minutes and allow me to share a few things on a brief ride, fair enough?”
• •   When they get back from the demo, do they share the story about all of the conveniences
•      the dealer has invested in to make vehicle  ownership a wonderful experience?

Managers, look around and assess just how many Salespeople and non-Salespeople you have.  Some aren’t quite there, yet may simply need more training and motivation.