The Fishing Store Seller
I've seen many sellers failing because they draw wrong assumptions about the customer and not believing in the potential of an opportunity. #TheFishingStoreSeller story (below) reveals in a funny way, simple steps taken by the seller and how successful we can be by asking 'one question'. It is a short but very useful reading. Enjoy the reading!
Somewhere in a fishing store…
Is the end of the day, and the store is about to close in 20 minutes.
The manager observes one of the store sellers looking at people walking in front of the store and decide to approach him.
The manager asks: “How was the sales today?”
Seller with excitement says: “I already sold for one customer today, one sale!”
Manager frustrated asks: “One customer?”
Seller with a big smile in his face replies: “Yes, one customer”
Manager: “One sale? You spend the entire day here and closed one sale?”
Seller confused, replies: “Yes, one sale”
Manager: “I’m sorry, but this is not enough. You should put more of yourself in this job.”
Manager: “How much did you sell?”
Seller frustrated replies: “I sold 750 thousand dollars”
Manager: “I’m sorry, I think I didn’t get it! How much?”
Seller: “750 thousand dollars”
Manager: “What did you sell?”
Seller: “The customer didn’t have a fishing hook, so I sold it. But I realized he didn’t the fishing line, I sold the line. But I realized he didn’t have the fishing rod; I sold the rod. Then, he needed the fishing reel, floaters, sinkers, flukes, cooler, ice, toolbox, and bait.
So, when we thought he had everything. He mentioned that he was going to fish in the lake. So, I told him fishers have better chances when they are in deeper waters. He decided to check the boats we had available.
So, I sold the 22-foot fishing boat. But he didn’t have trolling motor for maneuvers, I sold it. Then, I realized he would need boat-trailer to pull the boat.
I asked what car he had and unfortunately, his car was not able to pull the trailer. So, I sold a new 8V truck to pull the trailer.”
Manager: “Wow! You sold everything because of a fishing hook?”
Seller: “Not really. In truth, he was passing by in front of our store and asked me where the drug store was located because he needed to buy some medication for woman cramps and pads for his wife.
So, I indicated where the drug store was and asked him one question: ‘Why don’t you go for fishing as your weekend is already screwed?’
He agreed and decided to come inside to check the fishing hook prices.”
