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How a bottle of Scotch ( which I never gave away or opened) and a thank you card ( which I never sent) made me thousands of pounds.

Guest post by: Paul McGouran

Article Overview: Social proof helps persuade prospects to become buyers. References and referrals are good, but there can be a better way.

How a bottle of Scotch ( which I never gave away or opened) and a thank you card ( which I never sent) made me thousands of pounds.

Amongst my many and varied sales roles, I have worked as a new and used car sales executive. I was on commission for selling the cars, as you would expect. I was also on commission for the upsell of other products. One of the products I used to sell was "Gap" insurance.

"Gap" insurance pays the difference between the payout you would get from your insurance company and what you actually paid for the car, in the event of your car being written off for any reason, for say a 2 year period. As with all good insurance, a waste of money if you did not have occasion to claim, but an absolute godsend if you do claim. Imagine getting the price you paid back 2 years later and being able to go out and buy another new car.

Now I was only averagely successful in selling this product, until I read an article on "social proof"

This article said if you see other people have bought and been pleased with a product, you are more likely to do so yourself. So here is what I did.

I bought an expensive bottle of Scotch Whisky. I bought a quality thank you card. ( You're probably ahead of me here).......

The whisky bottle went in the drawer I knew I would open often during the course of the sale. With the card under it. During the course of getting the various pieces of paperwork out the bottle would clank about. I would get it out and look a little bit embarrassed, saying "I'm not a drinker, particularly not Scotch, I wouldn't know if that was a good one or not." (if your customer knows his whiskeys he will tell you what a quality expensive one it is). "A customer Who I sold gap to about 18 months ago brought it in for me last week, with a lovely card. He said I persuaded him to have the gap - I don't think I did anything different to what I usually do. It's nice when people appreciate you doing your job properly." - "Anyway - lets get on with sorting the paperwork for your car............." Then later after the sale paperwork is sorted, and it come to explain - not push - gap insurance, you can show the thank you card, which says inside how grateful Derrick and Margaret are that that I sold them gap, and how it made up a difference of £4,826.32p between what they paid for the car and what the insurance company paid.

A tangible illustration like that is nicer, and easier than a pushy unpleasant sales pitch, where a customer feels he is being sold to. And - the salesman has done the job properly, explaining and illustrating the product fully, without being pushy and in a way the customer will fully grasp all the implications. I

s it immoral? well not if you truly believe the product is right for the customer.

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Article Tags: how to be persuasive, prospects, referrals, sales tips, social proof



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