Sell Your Friends - Make Extra Cash

"Sell Your Friends - Make Extra Cash"

My Job Here is Done™ Transcript (for general use only – machine-generated and it may not be accurate.) 

Kelli (00:00) Sell your friends, make extra cash? You don't have that many friends to begin with. Why do you want to sell your friends?

Dave (00:07) Very funny. Well, indirectly to make some extra cash.

Kelli (00:11) But then you'll have extra cash, but no friends.

Dave (00:13) I'm not talking about really selling friends. What I mean is to create a friendship before you sell or even before you buy.

Kelli (00:25) Okay, I get it. Treat a potential customer as a potential friend ... Clever. Establish and nurture that new relationship ... Solid. Sell to all your new friends ...Priceless!

Intro (00:39) Hi, I'm Dave and I've been starting and running businesses all my life. And I'm Kelli, working for the man like a dog for decades. And you are you the driven career professional clawing your way up the ladder of success, maybe running your own business. The next 20 minutes or so is just for you. Welcome to My Job Here Is Done.

Dave (01:03) Hey, thanks for joining us today. I am Dave

Kelli (01:06) and I'm Kelli and welcome to the podcast. Before we get started, just a quick reminder that you can learn more about the podcast, listen to all the previous episodes and interact with us at our website MyJobHereIsDone.com.

Dave (01:19) And don't forget all over social media at MyJobPodcast. This is the one about selling your friends for fun and profit.

Kelli (01:29) Well, almost. It's certainly about selling and buying, and it's most definitely about friends. But I think selling your friends is a bit of a stretch.

Dave (01:38) I don't know. You're my friend. Do you have any idea how much I could get for you on the open market?

Kelli (01:43) I bet a lot more than I could get for you.

Dave (01:46) It's always a competition with you, isn't it, Kelli? To the highest bidder.

Kelli (01:52) The art and science of selling and buying is made out to be super complex at times, but it really isn't. 

Dave (01:58) And before we go on, you may be thinking this episode is for salespeople only. It is not. Today we're going to look at buying, which everybody does. And by understanding a single fundamental aspect of buying, we hope to help all the people who sell stuff in their career as well.

Kelli (02:15) There are so many really good programs available, training programs to help make a person who sells for a living more productive. And we think most of those programs can and do help, but they aren't the first step.

Dave (02:27) In our podcast episode that we called Park It in the Sold Line, we touched on our belief that you can't train just anybody to be a good salesperson. Before any of those good training programs can help, a salesperson candidate first has to naturally have the gift of gab, the courage and confidence to place themselves in awkward personal situations, and the resiliency to be rejected many times over and over without getting discouraged.

Kelli (02:56) One of my favorite sales idioms is “Every no gets me closer to a yes!”

Dave (03:01) Exactly. And that's what I meant by resilience and determination. Most people don't take rejection or the word no very well. Kelli is one of them. And more so they don't have the qualifying recipe that will make them successful in sales.

Kelli (03:20) I am not!  But everyone's a buyer.

Dave (03:22) Yes. So how can we help buyers make better decisions?

Kelli (03:26) By understanding what normally drives the buyer to agreeing to buy what's being offered.

Dave (03:31) Right. And the answer to that question comes from understanding what the word friend means.

Kelli (03:36) Yes. We're actually mixing business and pleasure together here.

Dave (03:39) Oh, wait, that's a no no, no?

Kelli  No!

Dave Well, okay then. First, what's a friend.

Kelli (03:46) I'll bite - someone you like. Do you like me, Dave?

Dave (03:51) I like you a lot. That's why I decided not to sell you earlier.

Kelli (03:54) Okay, well, I'm still considering my options for you.

Dave (03:58) I’m sure. Okay, back to what is a friend.

Kelli (04:01) Britannica defines friends as a person who you like and enjoy being with.

Dave (04:06) And friends come in all shapes and sizes. A good friend, a best friend, a trusted friend, a dear friend, and the ever so popular just a friend, friend.

Kelli (04:17) A friendship is considered genuine when there's mutual respect for one another. When both people feel balanced in the relationship, both people know they can trust each other. And even more telling, when both people can't help but smile when they greet each other, the list goes on and on.

Dave (04:33) Well, what we're digging at here folksis the term friend is very broad and it comes in many different depths and specifications. But in the end, you know a friend when you make one.

Kelli (04:44) Okay, friend, let's apply this thesis we're developing to buying something you need and specifically, what can drive you to buy from one salesperson versus another.

Dave (04:54) Okay, short story first. A friend of mine was …

Kelli (04:56) What kind of friend?

Dave (04:59) We'll make this one, a dear friend.

Kelli (05:01) Okay, just checking, since there are so many options suddenly.

Dave (05:04) Okay, a dear friend of mine, not one of my obnoxious friends, they know who they are, was buying a new car a few years ago. He really wasn't a car person, but he very much just looked at the cars as a method of transportation. But he knew he wanted a Ford Mustang, and he knew he wanted it in triple yellow.

Kelli (05:27) Yellow is bad enough, but triple yellow must be horrible.

Dave (05:30) You're never going to make any friends with that type of ‘tude. And you'll see why in just a moment.

Kelli (05:35) Come on, anything but yellow. Lee Iacocca would be rolling over in his grave.

Dave (05:39) Well, anyway, my friend found two cars equipped the same, both in that triple yellow, one each at two different dealerships in the area. Now, mind you, my friend wasn't a wheeler dealer. He's a balanced kind of a guy. And he knows that dealerships must make money to stay in business. And he also knows that people need to make money to live but he was determined to get the best and most fair deal possible.

Kelli (06:04) Was he playing the price game between the two dealers?

Dave (06:06) No. Apparently the Mustang was hot enough and the car market was good enough back then, that pricing was identical at both dealerships.

Kelli (06:13) Okay, so pricing was identical at each dealership, and they both had the same equipped, triple yellow, ugly Mustang.

Dave (06:21) Yes, Kelli, yes, they did.

Kelli (06:24) So if you were a dear friend of his, why were you letting him buy a mustard color Mustang?

Dave (06:28) Kelli, you're straining our friendship. Please let me finish. So anyway, he gets the car and comes by to take me for a ride. What?

Kelli (06:36) You got into a yellow Mustang?

Dave (06:38) I did.

Kelli (06:39) A triple yellow Mustang. This is not you.

Dave (06:41) Okay, anyway, I asked him about the buying experience he had. He said both dealerships had the same kind of service rating. Both were close to his home. Both had exactly the same price, financing terms, delivery options. Both dealerships were virtually identical. I asked him, hey, what tipped you to buy from one dealer over the other?

Kelli (07:02) I know what you're going to say. He bought from the dealership where he felt he had the better connection with the salesperson.

Dave (07:08) Yes. He actually said, I made friends with the salesperson, and I bought the car from him. Pro Tip - Friends uy from friends.

Kelli (07:20) Friends buy from friends, which is not interchangeable with friends sell to friends.

Dave (07:26) Right? Kelli is making a very important point here by highlighting one primary part of the saying and that's the buy versus sell part in our episode, Curiosity Did Not Kill The Cat. Our guest Patrick Byers said, “Nobody wants to be sold anything. You want to make a decision to buy, right?”

Dave (07:41) Nobody wants to be sold something. Just saying the words out loud. Being sold something invokes feelings of being taken for a ride, having an adversarial encounter. It's just an unpleasant feeling in which you want to avoid.

Kelli (07:58) I've said this on the podcast before, I hate most buying experiences because I can't stand the feeling of being sold to.

Dave (08:06) Exactly!  Friends buy from friends, which means that salespeople have to work first toward building the relationship from the moment they meet the potential buyer.

Kelli (08:16) Forget all of the selling techniques and strategies that you learned, studied, or practiced for a moment, stop in your tracks, and forget about your job. Forget about making money. Forget about retiring your quota. Now, with a clear head, think about how you would make friends in your real not job related life. When you first meet someone, you can figure out pretty quickly if you emotionally like that person, and you should try to foster that because you never know. That person may turn into a good friend, a trusted friend, a best friend.

Dave (08:45) And when you apply this to your job as a salesperson, you will give yourself a natural and powerful edge over your competition and most of all, this is a genuine move. This isn't a gimmick or a protocol that you follow. It's truthful, it's rewarding, and it's humanizing for you and the buyer.

Kelli (09:05) Here are ways to get this started as a buyer and as a salesperson. First, the buyer. Let's say you're visiting a showroom and you, like me, hate to be sold to and hate what you know is going to happen as soon as you walk in the door.

Dave (09:18) Attack of the pushy sales guy. Sound the alarms, right?

Kelli (09:21) As the buyer, just take immediate control. Hi, my name is Kelli and I'm here to buy a new Frabitz. Will you be helping me today?

Dave (09:28) Well, I'll tell you something. If I heard that coming through the door by a customer and I was any salesperson, I'd be thrown off to the side of the road for a moment.

Kelli (09:37) Next, act like you're at a holiday party, in a room with a bunch of people you don't know, but you introduced yourself just now to this guest.

Dave (09:44) Which is your salesperson in this example.

Kelli (09:46) Right. So how long have you been working here? Did you grow up in the area? Let the conversation lead you to ask as many non-business related questions as you can. Just act like you're at a party talking to a stranger.

Dave (09:58) Yeah, the goal here for the buyer is both strategic and genuine at the same time. Hey, this guy or gal could end up being a real friend- that salesperson that you're talking to, just like they could have been at a party. So go for it.

Kelli (10:12) And strategically, you want to ensure that you have a pleasurable experience if you choose to buy a frabitz from them.

Dave (10:17) Yeah, a friendly initial conversation, that has nothing to do with the selling or buying process, will take the pressure off of the salesperson and the buying pressure off you. Now, the conversation will naturally lead to the reason you're there, and the salesperson may ask more about you rather than just pushing on with the sales speak. Remember, you're still making friends at a holiday party. So he may say something like, Are you familiar with our Frabitz line?

Kelli (10:44) Yes. I'm missing one that attaches to an old fashioned Gonkulator. I have a few of them laying around.

Dave (10:49) I bet your Gonkulator's Fortastat has a loose Kinibley pin.

Kelli (10:52) It does. How did you know that?

Dave (10:54) It's a common problem. Would you like to borrow a Kanorten wrench?

Kelli (10:57) Boy, would I. Can I use it to check my Turbo Fluid?

Dave (11:00) Oh, absolutely. Turbo fluid. And your Muffler Bearing … normal party conversation?

Kelli (11:09) Yes, normal. By now, the salesperson and the buyer are both just chatting, and there's no reason why both of you should not feel comfortable if you, as the buyer, don't feel like you could like them, just like at a holiday party, thank them for the nice chat and move on.

Dave (11:25) Friends buy from friends. So as a career driven sales professional, it's high time you started to make some friends. I've been blessed with having the opportunity to be in a sales or a selling position for nearly all of my life, and I can tell you that my best customers are also my friends. They aren't necessarily my best friends or dear friends, nor are they usually lifelong friends. But they are friends in the true definition of the word. I respect them. They respect me. I trust them. They trust me. I’d do them a favor if they asked, and I know that they would return a favor if I needed one. They say nice things about me, and I brag about them. Do we go out to dinner? Do we socialize with each other? Do our families go on vacation together? Tell our deepest, darkest secrets? No. But if you asked either of us if we were friends or acquaintances, we'd both say friends.

Kelli (12:21) Here are a few tips on how to get that genuine and true to the word friend stuff started. And remember, this isn't a gimmick or sales technique.

Dave (12:29) Reverse the scenario we just laid out with Kelli buying a frabitz where she took control of the conversation and made it friendly right from the start. You take control first. You the salesperson, flip it around and take control first. As soon as you meet your potential customer for the first time, say to yourself, I'm just at a holiday party right now, and I don't know this person. What would I say? What would I do first?

Kelli (12:56) Smile. Smiling is a powerful apprehension diffuser. As soon as you smile, the other person, no matter how tense they are, they're immediately put at ease. When you talk with a smile, people can hear a difference. You naturally sound happy and alert. This works over the phone as well.

Dave (13:12) Yeah. And that's what brings me to a good point, because one of my clients is a health system dispatching business, and none of our customers really know well how our system works. They just know it works. And the only impression those customers have of the business is the interaction that they have with the people who are answering the phones and answering the two-way radios. If you smile when you talk, it comes through on the other end. And people really do notice. All of our employees always try to smile when they speak. Try it for yourself. You can hear it yourself.

Kelli (13:45) Yeah. Without smiling. Say, welcome to my place. What can I help you with today?

Dave (13:50) Go ahead, we'll wait. Say it. Welcome to my place. What can I help you with today?

Kelli (13:58) Now smile a big smile and say it again. Welcome to my place. What can I help you with today?

Dave (14:07) See how that just worked? Always try to smile. It's a superpower break the ice.

Kelli (14:13) Just like if you're at a party talking to a stranger, ask questions that help you to get to know the customer better. Tell me about your role in the company.

Dave (14:21) How long have you been in this industry?

Kelli (14:23) I see you're located in Boston. How long have you lived in that area?

Dave (14:26) Should I assume you're a Red Sox fan?

Kelli (14:28) Follow up on those answers to previous questions to guide you along. Again, think holiday party.

Dave (14:34) You'll know if you're going in the right direction in two obvious ways. Number one, you'll notice the interaction is conversational and two, you'll get questions about you from the customer.

Kelli (14:45) Try not to rush this along. Remember you're trying to see if you can make a new friend here.

Dave (14:50) Yeah, and very important and a topic for another episode is keep notes. If the customer is a Red Sox fan, note it. If they tell you they have two kids, note it. If you find out a birthday, a spouse's name, note it. Why? Listen to our episode on R in CRM means Revenue!

Kelli (15:13) Here's the takeaway. By working on making a friend before you work on making a sale, you increase your chances of both getting someone to buy what you're offering and making a new friend.

Dave (15:23) Thank you very much for listening today, friend. If you like our podcast, why don't you tell another friend about us, just one friend or colleague who you think might enjoy the content and the stories that we share. You can listen to My Job here is Done anywhere and everywhere podcasts are available and check out our website for all the latest info on the show and how you can work with us at myjobhereisdone.com.

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