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New London, Wisconsin | From 1978 to 1982 I sold for an IH dealer, and when times got slow he required I do cold calls. I hated that even more than the customers did because it seemed to make both our times seem less valuable. Then I thought of a new idea. Most did not want to be sold anything, but might have something to get rid of. I made a consignment system pretty profitable for those who wanted that service and could be in and out of a cold call in less than 2 minutes for those in a hurry. Surprisingly, a lot of them wanted to talk for up to an hour, some even longer. My part took less than a minute, the rest was listening and following up promptly if they wanted a price or more info. That followup was almost always within hours. I did very well at that and loved the job. I would have stayed but when I asked, was told there was no room for me to own any part of that family business.
Another thing that helped was if your customer had a problem, get your hands dirty and help to figure it out. You will know the equipment much better and be more respected for it. Unless you have no talent in that department. I had one old guy who bought a lawn mower and snow thrower. The first time he needed to switch them he called in frustration about this no good *******. Turns out his eye sight had gotten so bad he couldn't tell what the book said or see the notches on the belt tightener much less crawl around it and shimmy things into place. Once I figured that out I just told him, Otto, when its time to change your machine attachments, just call me and I'll do it on my way home from work, for free, every year and it's on the way home anyway. He went from being a difficult customer to the most grateful guy you ever met. His wife made stuff for me to eat as I was young and single then. Good folks. Very good memories of those days. | |
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