The Most Irrestistable Phrase in Sales

I’m in sales.

At its most generous (and most common) form, it is me offering my services with a desire to benefit both customer and myself.

At its worst, it is manipulation.

I don’t manipulate in the sense you might think.  I believe I have a good product, but if I don’t beat a comparable one on price, I walk away.  Probably not what you would want to hear if you were my sales manager, but a lot of my clients (and would-be clients)  appreciate it.

I manipulate on Friday afternoons when I don’t really want to work anymore.

I have a catch phrase that always gets me what I want.  What I do is make the call I’m supposed to make, so I don’t have to feel guilty.  But I ask the question this way:

“I was wondering if you had some time for us to nail down details on X, or if you’d rather I stopped by ‘first of the week.’”

“First of the week” is irresistable, particularly on Friday afternoons.  What holds more promise than “fist of the week?”  “First of the week” is when unforeseen duties do not screw up your schedule and energy is always high.  It is a better time for everything, really.

In fact, that’s when I’ll finish all my laundry.  Weekends aren’t really the best time for all of that work, now are they?

~ by nonamiss on May 2, 2009.