The Walt Disney Effect

Early sales lessons teach to ask a prospect what they need, and then find a way to offer it, at a price. The modern methods of selling haven’t lost this principle, making clear the leaders in dollar volume.

   In my first position as an application specialist, I worked closely with software sales staff, performing demonstrations for current customers and often, brand new prospects. I will always remember the words one sales trainer shared with me, just moments before the client walked in, “No matter what they ask for, even if the software can’t currently do it, or it’s irrelevant, say yes,” he said, “we will find a way to make it do that, even if it costs extra, it is what they’re asking for.”

For years I felt this little episode in my life was a sad travesty to sales, a man selling ‘vaporware,’ desperate to close a deal any way possible.

I’ve learned better.

Disneyland, and Disney World, are clear examples. You rarely hear complaints about the experience they offer, only about the high price. These destinations make every opportunity in your vacation experience worthwhile, and they charge top dollar to do it. Today’s sales leaders can learn from the Late Great Walt Disney.

Questions to a prospect must be about them, not you, your product or it’s features. Start a conversation about their needs, and you will quickly identify that you can help, and make a sale, even out-of-the-box at a premium, or that there is no way to help from your options, and you both can move on to better things. Either choice is a win.

On the Importance of Plateauing

Speaking with leaders in business, sales, and athletics has led to new confidence in understanding the phases of growth, and how we discern one portion of our life’s journey from the next.

       While sitting serenely in the Jacuzzi at the local gym after a winning session of Les Mills Body Pump, I struck up a conversation with one of the usual suspects, a friend I’d never shared the workout with, but had often been in the hot tub at the end. He was on what must have been his third crash diet, failing his way through Atkins, South Beach, Master Cleanse, and what must now be some newer fad.

“I plateaued at 230,” he commented.

“Don’t worry,” I replied. “When I lost my weight, I got stuck at 230, then 210, then 200 before reaching my healthy weight.”

“That’s right,” said my girlfriend, joining us in the Jacuzzi, “your body needs to rest from time to time, just drink more water, add a little more exercise and you’ll see results again.”

This advice is simple, straight-forward and amazingly clear. Consulting for start-up companies in growth mode all the way to enterprise-level standards, I’ve seen many leaders beating themselves up or berating their employees for hitting a flat zone.

These periods aren’t just rests, they are signposts, the milestones along our travels to show us the way upward. Kudos to those losing weight, winning friends &  influencing people!

How Can We Co-Opt the Competition?

Making the transition from a decade of work as a mortgage broker to a fresh start working for a banking direct lender could have been a real challenge. Instead, it was an opportunity to grow market share.

   After working for mortgage brokers from Chicago to New York, I recently started a new contract for an entity I had never worked for directly as a loan officer before: a bank.
While in most arenas, being promoted to Euro Mortgage Bankers was a step up for me— lower pricing, faster closings, direct access to underwriting and lenders— in another way, I was unsure. How could I go to loyal clients and Realtors who had known my dedication to my previous mortgage brokerage?
The answer came in a way I couldn’t have expected: working for  the bank meant I could sell loans not just t o my end consumers buying homes, refinancing their property, and not just through Realtors who could recommend me, but also sell our loan products to my competition!
The very mortgage brokers I had competed with for so many years, and many homes, could now purchase directly from me at a discount and I could be rewarded for setting up the relationships! This was a true win, and more than a third of my initial success stories have been in this manner.
To think, I could have continued only direct selling and not even noticed!

Distilling Innovation with YouTube.com

When competitive challenges mount, the best leverage in many small companies is innovation and the ability to implement change more quickly and with better results than in large organizations.

   What would you do if you were faced with the challenge of creating new and effective ways to sell homes in a competitive real estate market?

When I was considering ways to double  ClickAnnArbor.com, my small team of Realtors in sales and in size of the workforce, many fleeting ideas seemed solid. What can a small firm offer that bigger competitors can’t?

Change and technology.

Since the mid-1980s, real estate sales firms have been using technology that puts panoramic views of homes online in what is now called a “virtual tour.” Most Realtors provide this as part of a package in home selling services.

My firm, ClickAnnArbor.com, pioneered the use of low-cost, high-quality digital video technology to replace the “computer nerdy” feel of virtual tours with a newsy YouTube video. This innovation allowed us to become the fastest-growing real estate company in the nation’s slowest-selling state!

Today, real estate agents from Maine to California use YouTube for a much more robust view of property.