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The Three Legged Sale

Written by: Charles Kettner

Article Overview: Conventional wisdom tells you that if you can sell the leader you will sell the rest of them. That works sometimes. What do you do if the leader isn’t interested in your product or already has something similar?

The Three Legged Sale

Lets talk about the three-legged sale.

First you ask, what is it? Well those of you that are in sales have missed many opportunities to close a sale because that extra person or persons that came along with your prospect just has to throw in their two cents worth. The beginner will try to sell all three or four people and end up with none of them simply because their lack of experience has not allowed them to be proficient at controlling groups of people.

I hear all of you veterans out there grinning because you think you know how to do it. Conventional wisdom tells you that if you can sell the leader you will sell the rest of them. That works sometimes. What do you do if the leader isn’t interested in your product or already has something similar? Aha! Now comes the real artist.

“The Specialist” does not put himself in the position of hoping the leader wants the deal. Instead, what I do is find out is who the leader is and regardless of his interest level I make sure he becomes my new best friend. Now, either way I win! If he likes the product he will influence his friends to go along as well. That’s the easy situation. Where it gets complex is if the leader does not have an interest in your product regardless of the reason. If he has become my new best friend the effect will be exactly the same! He will influence the crowd on your behalf, just for a different reason.

So as you progress in your sales career start seeing more then just the sale. Again, go back to basics and practice closing everyone all the time. In other words, start making yourself a more likeable person by pointing out the good in others and building other’s self esteem. If you work on this concept you will find that making the sale will become secondary and you will feel much more rewarded in your career because besides having more sales then you can count, you will also feel a lot better about yourself. Isn’t that what a career should be about anyway, personal growth?

“The Specialist”

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Article Tags: aha, conventional wisdom, crowd, interest level, likeable person, new best friend, personal growth, sales career, self esteem, two cents



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