5 Ways in which you can "Sell Comb to a Bald guy."

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “salesman?”, A door-to-door person probably in their 20s trying to sell you something that you don’t need or someone in a store complimenting you to make the purchase happen. That is a very stereotypical and mistaken image that you have for a salesman.

Who is a salesman, then? You are the salesman. In-fact we all are, either good or great.

Have you ever been in a relationship? Have you convinced your parents for a trip? Have you ever bargained with a shopkeeper? Have you ever dodged a fine? and last, Have you ever made viable excuses while you are late? If the answer is yes, you can sell anything to anyone my friend.

1. Identify your customer and gain their attention.

It’s true that it would be easiest to sell a comb to a guy with hair, easy to a balding guy and not so easy to a bald guy. I took the above title because I wanted to gain your attention and now that I have it, I can sell you (my content) here in exchange for your time.

Identify and classify your customers in a funnel to optimize your sales process and allot time to your variety of prospects proportional to their chances of conversion.

2. Achilles Heel - “Insecurities, Wishes and Problems”

Humans are responsive to emotions and these three factors heavily influence our purchase decisions. You need to identify their ‘insecurities/fears’ and sell them ‘safety/comfort’, identify their ‘wishes’ and sell them ‘hopes/pride’ and also identify their ‘problems’ and sell them ‘solutions.’

There are some basic human desires that are common for everyone, just to name a few - “look good and attract opposite sex, be rich - have a big house or luxury car, wear designer clothes, explore the world or simply be happy.” These are some basic human aspirations for a good life.

If you are an Indian, you might agree that people fall for the astrologers, baba(s) and fortune tellers for the fact that they gratify or scare you based on these basic aspirations. Now, I don't challenge your believes but I saw some fundamental patterns that I quoted above.

You just have to nail their Achilles heel? What is their burning desire or worst nightmare?

3. Value-selling, Pre-selling and Up-selling.

I saw this movie called ‘Django Unchained’ and this dialogue hit me hard. Dr. Shultz says that when you want to buy a man’s winning horse, don’t pitch him for the horse. Pitch him for the whole farm and horse will come complimentary.

Oh boy, It was awesome. Now if you are selling a comb to a bald guy, before telling him alternative uses of the comb to scratch his head or asking him to buy it for a loved one, create a pitch to play. Trigger his insecurities or give him hope to look young again with a wig and sell him a wig first, (boom) now you have a perfect angle to sell a comb.

You have to realize that you are selling something that requires a condition of having hair, once you fulfil that it won’t be hard to get a customer. This way you don’t actually fool a customer by selling something that he doesn’t need.

You have created a trusted relationship and a repeated customer.

4. Lifetime Customer Retention

Do you consider your customer as a “scapegoat” or a “hen laying golden eggs?”

A new lead is 10x more expensive than an old lead and you will slowly move to another field if you continue losing old customers because of the amount of hard work you will have to do to create new relationships every time. You will feel like an outsider even though you have cashed in millions in sales.

Have you heard about LCV? It’s a new KPI in the market which is an abbreviation of Lifetime Customer Value, i.e. the amount of business this customer can give in a lifetime. Differentiate your customers on the basis of your indicators and what is good for your business.

Provide them with loyalty points, don’t forget their birthdays or anniversaries, remember the slightest details like their dogs favorite food so that the customer relationship does feel like it has some real concern involved.

People have had more number of partners than the number of barbers that they have changed. How often do you change your barber? Not often, right? It might be subjective but 99% of the people usually don’t change their barbers often unless very urgent.

5. Closing is all about Timing.

Conversion is all about timing, you need to hit the iron when it is hot, You just can’t leave your customer idle. You have to sell in a particular timeframe which is before they head to an alternate or change their mind.

Remind them why there is no competition for your product by showcasing perfect testimonials and reviews of your previous customers and your bond that comes complimentary with the purchase.

The moment you feel that your customer is about to change their mind, throw an offer they can't ignore and close it asap.

Summary

I even pulled up a LinkedIn poll to know what did people think about sales man. Next time when you think of a salesman, don't stereotype because we all are one of them.

“I have roamed on the sunny streets trying to sell products to people and I have also earned referrals of selling dreams from the relationships I have created just by sitting at home - I choose the latter one every time.” - Reshabh Sharma