I walked into the Huntington Beach, CA Men’s Wearhouse ready to spend $500 on a suit; I walked out disappointed in less than 20 minutes not having spent a dime.
I walked into the Costa Mesa, CA Men’s Wearhouse ready to spend $500 on a suit; I walked out completely satisfied in 2 hours having spent $2,000.
What caused this huge difference in sales? There’s only one clear answer: An outstanding sales manager named Assaf Levin.
Who should read this post: Sales professionals that are looking to increase their sales conversions and commission value.
What you will learn: Given the same exact resources, what makes one sales rep better than another? Given the exact same circumstances, what causes a customer to spend more than he was originally planning to?
It’s amazing how a bad salesperson will drive customers away and how an excellent salesperson will get a customer to spend more money. This means that in startups, if you become an excellent salesperson, then you can close more client deals and get clients to give you more money. This not only helps with cash flow and traction, but it will help you raise venture capital.
Below are the key characteristics of the excellent salesperson and why Assaf Levin got me to spend over $2,000 at his store.
1. Expertise
The Bad: The bad salesperson in Huntington Beach did not know his selection by heart. I asked him for a slim fit suit, but it took him a few minutes to find its location in the store. Furthermore, the bad sales person couldn’t keep the conversation going. He just stood their awkwardly while I was trying out the suit.
The Great: Assaf was a suit savant – from the moment I walked into the store, he greeted me kindly and took my measurements. He proceeded to ask me what kind of suit fit I wanted; understanding that I like a slim fit, he began to teach me everything about a suit: how it should fit around my chest, how it should fit around my shoulders, how long the cuffs should be, the difference between an Italian suit and a Spanish suit, and many other things that I frankly can’t remember. What I do remember is that Assaf knew what he was talking about and he made me feel good.
Lesson Learned: Become an expert in whatever you are selling. It’s not enough to become an expert in your product – you must become an expert in the industry itself. If you’re selling suits, understand what are the latest trends, why these trends are happening, and how it will benefit your customer to adhere to these trends.
2. Honesty – which gains trust
The Bad: The bad salesperson tried to sell me a suit that was too small! He tried to pass it off by saying, “That’s the style now – it’s how everyone where’s it.” We then proceeded to try on the pants and I seriously couldn’t fit into it – my belly was busting out. He said the following, “It looks like you may be too big for the pants (placing the blame on me). You can purchase the suit here and then exchange it in San Francisco for one that fits.”
All he cared about was getting the sell. He didn’t care if it didn’t fit; he didn’t care that it would be a hassle to exchange a suit in SF; all he wanted to do was get his commission. This made me distrust him – and if you distrust a salesperson, then you will not buy from him.
The Great: Assaf spoke only truth. When I tried on a 38, he specifically said the following, “I know you like a tight fit, but this suit is too small for you. I will not have you walking out of my store looking like this; I cannot sell you this suit.” He puts my ‘looking-good’ above a sell! Can you believe that? What better way to get someone to trust your judgement.
He showed me a 40 and explained why this fits my chest and shoulders better. Furthermore, he explained that he can taper the body of the suit to make it as tight as the 38, but still maintain the proper silhouette on my shoulders and chest. Assaf had my business as soon as he showed his level of integrity and that he put my looks in front of making a sell.
Lesson Learned: Put the clients well-being in front of making the sell. For example, if your client wants a more expensive feature that will not benefit his needs, explain to him why you cannot sell him this product and why a different feature will suit his needs better. In doing this, you’ll gain his trust and he’ll adhere to every future suggestion that you make.
3. Variety of choices
The Bad: The bad salesperson made me take the one suit I picked out to the fitting room and try it on. He did not bring me other similar suits or colors to try on. Once I realized the suit did not fit me well, I decided to leave because I just wanted that one suit. If he had given me a variety of choices from the beginning, I might have stayed and bought another suit. Instead, I was fixated on that one suit – and since they didn’t have my size, I was disappointed and left.
The Great: Assaf never let me get fixated on one particular suit or one particular color. From the very beginning, he gave me a variety of choices and colors to choose from. Furthermore, he didn’t let decision paralysis become a problem. He made solid suggestions and had me try on 5 different suits in the fitting room.
To top it off, he brought me shoes that completed the whole outfit – he would not let me try on the suit with sneakers. It didn’t matter that I told him I was not going to buy shoes; he said, “Buying the shoes is not important; what is important is that you see the complete outfit so that you make the right decision.”
Lesson Learned: Guide the potential customer to the right decision. Don’t put all of your eggs into one version of your product; demonstrate your product’s flexibility by giving the potential customer a couple of options to choose from. These don’t necessarily have to be pricing options; these can be operational options as well. For example, the option to have an account manager personally install the product vs. installing the product remotely.
4. Up-sells and personalization
The Bad: The bad salesperson didn’t have a chance to up-sell me. He spent no time finding out what I liked and I left the store before he had a chance to sell me anything.
The Great: Once I had an excellent time choosing my suits, Assaf proceeded to lay out my suits on a table and match it with shirts and ties. He gave me a wide selection: soft colors, bright colors, pin-striped, solid, and everything else you can imagine. As he learned what types of colors I liked, he began to filter the others away until we had arrived to the three shirts and ties that I absolutely loved.
Lesson Learned: Take the time to learn about your customer so that you can solve his pains. Before you start selling the product, learn about the target customer’s specifics needs: have they been burned by a previous startup, do they currently use a competing product, are they looking to make a decision right away, and what are his greatest challenges right now? Once you learn about his pains, you can customize the pitch and your product to his specific needs.
5. The Thank you Economy
The Bad: The bad salesperson gets no thanks from me
The Great: As I walked out of the store, I knew that I had overpaid on certain items; I knew that if I had gone to Ross, I probably could have saved $300. As we left, my girlfriend Kim said, “Jun, you know that we can get those same ties and shirts at Ross for 50% off.” I replied with the following:
“It’s ok. Assaf deserves his good commission.”
At a certain point in the sale, the price and product didn’t matter. Assaf had won me over and I felt like he deserved my gratitude. The best way to show him my gratitude was by making sure he got a big commission.
Lesson Learned: This is the Thank You Economy so eloquently described by Gary. If you go above and beyond for your potential client and make him feel special, then he will reward you with his business, no matter what your price is or how good your product is compared to the competition.
-
Use these techniques and let me know how your sales go!
About the author
Jun Loayza is the Co-Founder of RewardMe, a digital rewards program for restaurants and retailers. In his entrepreneurial experience, Jun has sold 2 internet companies and lead social media technology campaigns for Sephora, Whole Foods Market, Levi's, LG, and Activision.
Find Jun on Google or Twitter
- More at
Join my Startup Lessons newsletter
Join my Startup Lessons newsletter to learn my secret startup lessons that I don't publish anywhere else.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I love these stories and I always envy those sales guys. I tried it once. please let me know what you think about it
http://theregjoe.blogspot.com/2011/07/marketing-101-or-sweet-monday.html
Hey Joe, read your article, not sure what the takeaways were. Is there a point to the story or is it just meant as a fun read?
Jun,
I love how you are able to show examples of each selling technique and their end result. Might I add one thing more to the list?
I always find that it’s very important to quickly determine the difference between a shopper and a buyer. Often times A shopper can be made into a buyer but it is rare that a buyer will invest the effort in shopping.
Assaf immediately sized you up as a shopper and allocated his available resources of time, knowledge, personality etc to convert you into a buyer. If you had been a buyer walking in, I suspect that Assaf would have altered his technique accordingly and narrowed the number of choices available getting you exactly what you had wanted when you walked in. If the vendor had confused the issue with choices that you were not interested in your reaction may have been different. You may have ‘spotted the up sell’ and that would have been a violation of the trust dynamic that could have better been served by focusing on the specific needs expressed by you the client who, after all, is always right.
Knowing when to zig and when to zag takes experience. It takes knowledge of more than products and techniques, it takes knowing people. Knowing what cues indicate ‘go’ and what cues indicate ‘stop’. Kinda like dating…but those are stories for another time.
Cool article! I’m working hard to catch-up on your blogposts!