Continued from page 1
Again Habib asked, "If you were to have one of these beautiful carpets to enjoy in your home and pass on to your children, which style would you like?" His assistants moved carpets around until we had agreed on
basic style we liked. The process of elimination continued with up to three cousins flying rugs in and out of
display area until only four were left. Habib said, "Do you have a favorite among these?" We made our final choice and
cousins removed all except our favorite rug. Habib complimented our choice and assured us that we had picked
Rolls Royce of carpets. Knowing what a Rolls costs, I knew we were in trouble!
Now came
price. Habib opened his calculator and started entering numbers. In a few seconds he turned to us and said, "In US dollars, this carpet is $5,300." Now I was prepared for a shock, but that was way out of line with our expectations, so let
games begin.
After many cycles of offer and counter offer, we finally set our firm price at $2,000. Habib said, $2,500? I apologized and assured him that my offer had nothing to do with
quality of his carpets but simply our budget and $2,000 was already $500 over our budget. We settled on $2,000 and walked out with our new rug.
But what had I learned? First, that Habib, Azad and his family were willing to spend a great deal of time with us before we ever talked price. The tour of
Mosque,
dozens of rugs, and
wonderful tea all added value to
sale.
We had also seen a great example of Team Selling. Azad did
prospecting,
cousins made
presentations and Habib was
closer. They worked together like they had rehearsed it a hundred times. In fact they had, and as a result their communications were flawless. Azad brings in 10 prospects each day and Habib has a 70% closing ratio.
We can learn a lot from
real pros in this world.
For a free copy of "5 Steps to Building a Great Sales Team", please email article6@waterhousegroup.com and ask for article #6.
Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group. They specialize in helping companies increase their sales and profits. He can be reached at 1-800-57-LEARN or steve@waterhousegroup.com.
Re-Print Permission This article may be reprinted in it's entirety if
following conditions are met:
The complete tag with
author's name and contact information is included immediately after
article. A copy of
printed article is mailed to
author at 1467 Walnut Creek Drive, Orange Park, FL 32003 within 30 days of publication. The article is presented in a positive light as part of an appropriate business related publication.

Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group. They specialize in helping companies increase their sales and profits.