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MLB All-Star Game Unveils a Sales Prodigy

Written by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: Tom Schaff, Sales Development Expert in St. Louis, related a very funny story about events before and after the MLB All-Star Game. Here is Tom's story:

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MLB All-Star Game Unveils a Sales Prodigy

Tom Schaff, Sales Development Expert in St. Louis, related a very funny story about events before and after the MLB All-Star Game. Here is Tom's story: At Fan Fest, Taco Bell gave away enormous taco head hats to promote Volcano Tacos...but they didn't have very many. We were the first ones there and each of my kids got one. All day, people were asking where we got those hats.

"The day comes to an end and we were walking back to the rain-delayed Futures game and a guy offers my 7 year old $10 for his hat..."

"No way", Aaron said.

"How about $20?"

"Not a chance", he said.

"$40?"

"I like this hat, Mister."

"Kid, money is no object, I have lots of money..."(he opened up his wallet with hundreds).

Aaron looks at him, says "Mister, I got that hat for free, if you want to pay $100 I'll take it."

The guy paid him and says "Kid, you're going to grow up and be in sales"

So Aaron walked around the corner, only to see a guy walking down the street with 5 of the exact same hats in his hand and called, "Hey Mister, if any of those hats are extra, can I have one?"

He had a hat, then sold the hat for $100, and then got the hat back minutes later for free!

Thanks for sharing your story Tom! It's both natural and accidental when a seven-year-old gets the deal he wants and on his terms. Now if the grown-ups could just be more like the seven-year-olds they would sell a lot more effectively and a lot more consistently! It was simply a case of not appearing to be too anxious, a willingness to walk away, and a tremendous understanding of value.

Here is testiment to the fact that Tom is bringing up a balanced kid who understands the importance of giving back:

Aaron woke up the next day and said, "I'm giving $10 of the $100 to God and $45 to Alex (his brother) because I was lucky he picked my hat, not his."

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Home > Sales > Dave Kurlan > MLB AllStar Game Unveils a Sales Prodigy
Article Tags: alex, development expert, fan fest, funny story, futures game, hat back, hats, lots of money, mlb, mlb all star, mlb all star game, rain, schaff, taco bell, tacos, ups, volcano, walking down the street, wallet, willingness

About the Author: Dave Kurlan
RSS for Dave's articles - Visit Dave's website

Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development.  He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan).

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