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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.
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