I got a lesson in effectively preparing the stage for "the sale" this past week from my 17-year-old daughter's boyfriend. Prom is just around the corner and my daughter's friends were giving her boyfriend grief because he hadn't yet asked her to the prom. Seems he didn't realize he had to "ask!"
Once they made sure he knew he needed to ask, they also let him know that he had to ask in just the right way. Apparently how you ask someone to the prom is almost as important as the big day itself. Times have sure changed since I was a teenager!
So last weekend, he took her out on a surprise date (she didn't know where they were going) and arranged for her best friend to come over to our house while they were gone and leave a poster he had made and a dozen roses in her bedroom. When they got home from the date, he suggested she go up to her bedroom to get something and when she opened the door, she found the poster asking her to prom and the flowers.
Needless to say "he did good" and she said "yes."
So what's the sales lesson? Well, sales is all about preparation. Too many times, people think they can just launch right into the sales pitch. They don't take the time to set the stage and prepare their prospect for receiving that sales message. By carefully planning your entire marketing and sales process and effectively setting the stage BEFORE you launch into your sales pitch, your prospects will be much more likely to say "yes."
I remember early in my marketing career, I never really understood all the hoopla and "dog and pony" show that accompanied new business presentations. After a few years in the business, and some experience on the receiving end of such pitches, I came to learn that all of that preparation, extra effort and "show" are a very important ingredient in getting the prospect to say "yes."
It shows that you took the time to plan. It shows you care. It says a lot about how you'll treat that prospect once they become a client. Because in the end, customer service BEFORE the sale is just as important as customer service after the sale.