Key lessons to take from this story – we often don’t get curious about what people are really after when they buy something from us. We just sell them what they came for instead of slowing down the convo to explore why they want it. At it’s crassest – upselling is ‘would you like fries with that?’, but at it’s best it’s a deep interest in helping people get a complete solution to their problems.

A young guy from Alberta moves to Vancouver and goes to a big “everything under one roof” department store looking for a job. The Manager says, “Do you have any sales experience?”

The kid says “Yeah. I was a salesman back in Alberta .” Well, the boss liked the kid and gave him the job. “You start tomorrow. I’ll come down after we close and see how you did.”

His first day on the job was rough, but he got through it. After the store was locked up, the boss came down. “How many customers bought something from you today?

The kid says “one”. The boss says “Just one? Our sales people average 20 to 30 customers a day.

How much was the sale for?”

The kid says “$101,237.65”.

The boss says “$101,237.65? What the heck did you sell?”

The kid says, “First, I sold him a small fish hook.

Then I sold him a medium fishhook.

Then I sold him a larger fishhook.

Then I sold him a new fishing rod. Then I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down the coast, so I told him he was going to need a boat, so we went down to the boat department and I sold him a twin engine Chris Craft.

Then he said he didn’t think his Honda Civic would pull it, so I took him down to the automotive department and sold him that 4×4 Expedition.”

 

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