Awhile back I dropped in to visit a friend of mine at her office. As soon as I walked in the door I could tell she was very upset.
“Oh my God…am I glad you’re here. I was just about to call you.”
“What‘s the problem?” I asked
“FLEAS!! I’ve got thousands of fleas in my house. They’re everywhere. They’re biting me. What do I do? How do I get rid of them? ”
“You’re going to need professional help” was my immediate answer.
I gave here the name of a pest control company to call. I told her to ask for the owner and tell him that I told her to call.
“He’s a good friend of mine. Just tell him you need a flea treatment and he’ll take care of you.”
She made the call while I was sitting there.
Sounds like a done deal, right?
Not so fast. Here’s what happened next.
Once she got the owner on the phone, he began talking to her about fleas and flea treatments. He wanted to educate her. He began spewing out so much information (which she was totally uninterested in at the time) that she couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
At one point, she put her hand over the phone and whispered to me, “He won’t stop talking”.
She became very frustrated with the guy and finally told him she’d have to call him back. Then she asked me for the name of someone else, which I gave her. She made the call to the second guy and he told her he’d have someone at her house at 2:00pm to take care of the fleas. Done.
My point is simply this. All she wanted was an appointment, not a dissertation. She had a serious problem and she wanted it solved…quickly. My referral was enough to seal the deal. She was not interested in learning about the life cycle and feeding habits of fleas. She just wanted them gone.
The first guy talked himself right out of the job because he just wouldn’t shut up long enough to let her make the purchase.
Sometimes…all the customer wants to do is sign on the dotted line.
All YOU need to do is hand them a contract and a pen!
I hope you have a great day today…and thanks again for reading my letters,
Hal
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