Here’s a proven, and truly easy way to start increasing your
sales, immediately.
All you need to do is add these 2 words to your selling system,
and you’re good to go.
In fact, this trick’s so good, I wish I could take credit for
coming up with it, but the truth is, it comes from a
little-known marketing legend.
Here’s the deal:
In 1947, Elmer Wheeler was one of the best-known salesmen of
his time. His “Wheeler Institute of Words” developed a “best
practices” of selling, by testing a variety of words in over 19
million selling situations.
I’m right in the middle of reading one of Elmer’s most famous
books, “Tested Sentences That Sell”.
And here’s a great little selling trick that comes straight out
of this book:
Ever go into a restaurant and order a drink?
Of course you have.
And what does your server usually ask you, right after you
place your order?
They usually say “Small or large?”, right?
Well, imagine for a moment… you’re the owner of this
restaurant.
Do you have any idea how much your sales would increase over
time, if… instead of saying “Small or large?” after your
customers ordered their drinks … you told your servers to
instead, say…
“Large one?”
Let me take the guess-work out of this and make your job easier
for you.
Elmer Wheeler tested this experiment out in five-thousand
separate selling situations. And the results showed, when your
server asked “Large one?”…
7 out of every 10 people, answered “Yes!”
So, let’s say a large soda costs you 35 more than a small soda
– are you with me on this? This means, by saying “Large
one?”… 7 out of every 10 customers that walk through your
door, end up giving you an extra 35 cents!
Now you may be thinking, “So what?… It’s only 35 cents.”
A-h-h-h, but remember….
Little Hinges Swing Big Doors Open!
Follow me here for a minute: If you’ve got 5 servers… and
each of them does this with 100 customers a day, this means each
of them will be serving large sodas to an extra 70 people a day.
That’s an extra 350 large soda sales a day. (5 servers x 70
large sodas each).
350 extra sales, at 35 each, is $122.50 a day in extra gross
sales for you… which translates into $857.50 extra a week, and
over 52 weeks, this turns into…
$44,590 Dollars A Year… With ZERO Extra Marketing Costs
Involved!
Not bad, hey?
And if your large sodas cost 50 more than your small sodas, in
that case, your annual bump in gross sales would be $63,700
Dollars!
70 more? O.K., that one’s easy — just double the 35 figure
– now you’re selling $89,180 Dollars more!
See how easy this stuff is?
It’s insane, isn’t it?
But what if you don’t have a restaurant?
How can you use this trick in your business?
Well, let’s say you own a photography store. When people are
filling out their forms to get their pictures developed, instead
of saying “Singles or doubles?”, you can say “Doubles?”.
If you own a landscaping company, instead of asking “Shrubs and
lawn?”, you’d say “Whole yard?”
And if you’re a hairdresser, instead of asking “Cut and
shampoo?”, you just say “Shampoo?”
Make sense?
When it comes down to it, the basic premise of this selling
trick, is…
If You Don’t Ask… You Don’t Get!
But polishing your request up so it’s “benefit-oriented” to
your prospect… makes this work smoothly… effectively… and
without looking like you’re trying to “sell more”.
Notice how you’re not asking “Do you want a large soda?” –
you’re just saying “Large one?”
See, you’ll have to experiment a little bit to find out what
works best in your situation, but not you’ve at least got one
helluva head start on things, no?
And can you think of any easier way to make this kind of extra
money?
Elmer Wheeler really was a “selling genius” and you’ll pick up
quite a bit from him.
And, from the excitement and enthusiasm he comes across with,
you know he enjoyed his work.
Here are a few of Elmer’s famous quotes:
“Your first 10 words are more important than your next 10,000.”
“People seldom want to walk over you until you lie down.” And…
“Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle.” Unfortunately,
Wheeler’s books are all out of print. You’ll find them showing
up pretty consistently on e-bay though, and, you can also find
some of them on www.abebooks.com or www.alibris.com.
Several of my readers asked me whatever happened to Joe
Sugarman, who I mentioned in last week’s Tip, “What Never Ever
To Say To Your Prospects…”.
Joe’s living on Maui now, and he publishes the Maui Weekly
newspaper. He’s also still involved with Blu Blocker sunglasses,
and I’m sure, a number of other things as well.
