What I Learned in Mexico About Selling

We recently visited friends who live in Bucerias, a small town just north of Puerto Vallarta. I did not do my usual pre-trip research to learn where we were going and what to expect so everything was a surprise to me.

I was fore-armed with horror stories from friends who stayed in all-inclusives and ventured out into the local market once in two weeks and felt berated by the vendors so I was a bit apprehensive.

However, what I learned in Mexico about selling made the trip far more interesting and rewarding than I had expected.

What I found most enlightening was how enterprising the local merchants were. On our first walk through the market I was overwhelmed by the constant offers and deals being directed at me, but as soon as my hosts taught me the two magic words, “no gracias”, I was able to relax. The merchants, time-share salesman and street vendors were polite and backed down as soon as I used the magic words.

In the first few days of visiting small towns I thought this was unique behavior towards tourists, but I learned when we visited a more remote town called San Sebastien, that this was actually a sales technique that was used among locals too and that I was not a “target” as I had thought originally.

So what did I learn in Mexico about selling:

1) Everyone is a prospect. Regardless of the type of stall I walked by the vendor would assume I was either in the market for a gift or something for myself and did not try to profile me.

2) Product knowledge is important. Wherever we went we asked many questions about various products and most of the time the vendor knew where it was manufactured, what it was made of and even offered helpful suggestions.

3) Offer superior customer service. Whenever I picked up a fragile item I was always wondering how I would get it home and invariably the vendor would be at my side offering to bubble wrap the item to protect it. They always removed my number one objection first.

4) Get them in the door. With dozens of choices we found ourselves walking by most of the stores as we were concerned about being cornered by a pushy vendor. Instead what we found was when a vendor invited us to look around we were able to shop without any interference and were left to browse on our own. These vendors know that there will be no sale if someone walks by so why not invite us in and increase the probability of a sale.

5) Ask the customer what they want and turn it into a need. If we walked into a jewelry store we were usually asked who the item was for and if it was for a gift they would offer age-appropriate designs. Almost without fail the jewelers would slip the ring, bracelet or necklace on my wife and use the “puppy dog close” making you fall in love with the item.

6) Up-sell. Once you have the first sale keep the momentum going and offer the matching earrings, bowls or whatever. It worked on us.

7) Accept that not every prospect will turn into a sale. About 90% of the time the salesman would be gracious about losing the sale and we walked out of the store, away from the stall or asked the beach vendor to leave and they did so knowing that their business was numbers game. The more people they got in front of the more likely they were to make a sale. The other 10% were ungrateful for the time we had spent with them and either stormed away or reverted to deep discounts. These vendors always ruined it for the others, but they were in the minority. Have fun selling. I know this may not work in your sales arena, but one of the best lines from a jewelry vendor on the beach was “do you want to buy some junk”. It made us laugh and most times when we heard a creative opening line we were set at ease and looked at their “junk”. One beach vendor anticipated we were going to say “not today, maybe tomorrow” and started off by saying “I know not today, maybe tomorrow, but this jewelry is from yesterday so today is tomorrow”. We bought something.

Just for fun, here is one of my best photos of the moon rising:

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Want To Generate Some Goodwill? Try a Coloring Contest

Depending on what industry you are in you may be wanting to make a more personal connection in your community. This is especially important for Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, Insurance Brokers, Investment Advisors and retailers.

A great way to build some buzz in the neighborhood is to sponsor a coloring contest for kids. Here are a few things to think about:

1) Source an appropriate image for the kids to color.

2) Have prizes for different age ranges to make sure everyone gets a chance to win.

3) Offer prizes that are age appropriate and have an option for a boy and a girl winner if the item is not gender neutral.

4) Determine the best distribution method; through your storefront, as an insert in your local newspaper, as a direct mail piece or find a retailer such as a grocery store to distribute the coloring pages.

5) Determine the best collection method. Mail to an address, drop off at your storefront or at the same business that helped you distribute them initially.

6) Announce the winners and ensure as many people as possible know that there were in fact winners.

Here is a Sample Coloring Contest

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Sales Proposal Checklist

Geoffrey James wrote an article on the BNET Business Network website which I think is a brilliant checklist if you are writing a sale proposal.

The list is based upon a conversation he had a couple of years ago with sales proposal guru Tom Sant.

1. Does the customer know who we are?
2. Is the customer expecting us to bid on this?
3. Does the executive summary address customer needs?
4. Is the executive summary one page or less?
5. Have we replaced all the jargon that’s meaningful only to us?
6. Are we sure that another vendor doesn’t have the inside track?
7. Does the proposal follow the customer’s specified format and outline?
8. Have we removed all the meaningless marketing fluff (e.g. “state-of-the-art”)?
9. Has someone edited out other customer names from boilerplate material?
10. Is the writing clear and forceful rather than flat and technical?
11. Has the proposal been edited so that it contains no glaring grammatical errors?
12. Can the proposal convince the customer that we can actually deliver?
13. Does the proposal define how we’ll measure customer satisfaction?
14. Is the proposal being submitted on time and to the right people?

I am also a big believer in a clear layout, proper indexing, creative packaging and good follow-up. It’s a good idea to browse through stationery and office supply stores to find different binders and covers that will make your proposal stand out. Whenever possible I use a 1/2″ 3 ring binder.

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Wondering About Search Terms?

I just stumbled on a new Google tool called Google Sets. You enter a few items from a set of things and Google will try to predict other items in the set.

I entered “email” and “stationery” and Google Sets provided the following list:

• email
• stationery
• looney
• graphics
• misc
• disney
• web site
• brochures
• leaflets
• pawed
• swisbeagle

Okay I don’t know where “pawed” and “swisbeagle” came from, but the others are relevant.

This is a great tool as it helps you determine what search terms people might be using to find your product or service. Because it is Google providing the results you know it is based on their daa so it is going to be reliable.

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