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"Selling and Poker"
George Matyjewicz
We had a discussion on selling on Market-L Discussion List and Jacques Werth,
author of High Probability Selling and I made the similar statement -- Selling
Is Easy - all you need to do is qualify your prospect and go after those sales
where you have the best chance of closing - High Probability Selling.
What was interesting is that I never read Jacques' book, yet we have the same
ideas on selling. Better yet, we have something else in common - we were both
professional or quasi-professional poker players! The reason I bring this up
is the similarities between poker and selling or poker and life.
Consider this:
There are 52 cards in a deck, the
same as number of weeks in a year. There are four suits in a deck, the same as
seasons in a year. There are 13 cards in a suit, the same as number of weeks
in a quarter. There are 12 picture cards, the same as months in a year. And
there are 365 spots on the cards in the deck, the same as days in a year.
Selling is like poker.
1. When you play poker the money on the table is not yours. Suckers throw good
money after bad by betting more because they have $x on the table. Same with
selling. Talking to users is throwing money on the table with no assurance of
a win. Talking to decision makers will improve your chances of winning.
2. In poker you should drop out six out of seven hands (in stud, after the
first cards are dealt; in draw, after looking at your initial hand). However,
you should also win six out of seven hands in which you stay. So the odds are
in your favor. Same holds true in selling. Drop out of the deal if you can't
reach the decision makers. Not all deals are for you.
3. Poker is a game of strategy, not luck. You need to know your opponent,
learn their strengths and weaknesses and capitalize on that knowledge. Same
with selling. Most sales people give up after three calls, yet most prospects
are not reached until the fifth or sixth call.
I strongly believe that sales should be an industry of it's own. A good closer
should be able to sell anything to anybody. There may be slight differences
selling a product (tangible) vs service (intangible), but otherwise, selling
is selling.
What are you selling? Comfort. The prospect needs to be comfortable that you
can solve his problems, have credibility, have the strength to carry out the
deal and know what you are doing.
My simple rules:
1. Get in front of the prospect with a blank writing pad
2. Listen to what they need.
3. Identify not more than five issues that need to be resolved.
4. Go back to the office and prepare a presentation.
5. Meet with the client and start with "I heard you say..." and identify the
five issues to resolve
6. Do my presentation.
7. Summarize and explain how what I present satisfies those five issues.
8. Pick up the check ;-)
If the prospect identifies the issues, and you can solve the issues (and make
them comfortable), how can they not go with you?
Poker anybody? ;-)
George Matyjewicz, C.S.M.O.
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Moderator of E-Tailer's Digest http://www.etailersdigest.com/
Board Member AIB #34 http://www.aib-world.org/
P.S. Jacques' book...
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Jacques Werth, co-author:
"HIGH PROBABILITY SELLING"
Read the first 4 chapters free at:
http://www.highprobsell.com
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Author's note: A special tribute to Wink Martindale and the song "Deck
of Cards." It was supposedly a true story about a man in WWII who related a
deck of cards to the bible. He goes into each card in the deck and how it
relates to the bible. I find it fascinating that it fits well in the business
world also, especially the strategy of poker.
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