Sell them in bunches like bananas
I’m afraid I can’t recall where I first read that expression. I was trying to learn about selling back in my engineering days and the words of wisdom popped up in an otherwise forgettable book (only forgettable because I was not ready to become any kind of a salesman until much later in life).
Now take a look at our on-line store. You’ll see how I did eventually learn from that book. At the time of writing this we sell a company for R1 980, but look at the Additional Services. Those are the other bananas. They usually turn a R2 000 sale into an R5 000 sale. Plus we are helping the client, which is what service is all about.
Now don’t say to yourself “Oh, its OK for you guys – that’s the business you’re in”. Check out how many other Chartered Accountants are in that business. None as far as I know. Now go back to that Additional services tab. See the long list of services (bananas) that make up the bunch? You can do the same, I don’t care what business you’re in.
In a nutshell, when you have a customer (a client in our case), find out what they need and, if you can provide it, add it to your bananas. If you can’t provide it, find someone who can (and who works to the same standards as you). Then you can make the call as to whether you want to sub-contract to the other supplier or refer the business to them either on commission or not. We choose to refer without any commission, but there’s nothing sacred about our policy, you choose.
Should you wish to make an appointment, please feel free to visit Derek’s diary and book a time that suits you.
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