The Million Dollar Lab

Today I did an interesting experiment. Right now I am starting a company in my spare time and today I started on my market research. Part of which involved spending the day in town visiting all of my potential competitors.

I pretended to be a potential customer and at the end of my visit I spent a few minutes making notes on each business. I rated them on a variety of factors on a score card out of 5 (5 being excellent 1 being poor). The one factor that surprised me was in sales; I scored every place visited 1 out of 5.

I should note that I'm not talking about the staff or sales people themselves; they were all great friendly people. I had 15-20 minute conversations with some of them, talking about what they do, how they do it, and why they're the best. No one was rude in any way and had I have been a real customer I would have happily done business with any one of them. Finally as far as service, price, and appearance; I rated them all very highly.

However, despite the grat customer service, competitive pricing, and friendly staff, not one person asked for my business! No one asked me to buy from them, no one even checked to see if I was interested!!!!

As far as anyone knew, I was a perfectly qualified customer who wanted the service their company offered. So why were they reluctant to ask for my commitment?

1. No one wants to be a salesman
No one wanted to make me make a decision. The question is WHY NOT? If you genuinely believe in what you sell or do there is no shame is asking for the sale.

2. Fear of rejection
The fact is I could have (and in the context of my experiment would have) said no. We are afraid of rejection and hearing the word no doesn't go down well; we take it personally! But what if I had said yes? By not asking for the sale they potentially missed out.

3. Lack of a plan
No one had a plan to get me on board. How much more powerful would their meeting with me have been if there was a plan to get me signed up. In anything you do, have a plan and know where you want to end up! You might not get there every time but with a clear plan of attack the odds improve drastically!



Good honest sales people make the world go round! They pay the bills, bring in the business and keep everyone employed. Most importantly they help people get what they want.

I remember last time I bought a computer, I struck the same problem of no one asking for the sale. Only in this case I was a genuine customer. The thing is, I was a little confused about what was the best option for me. I really needed a knowledgeable, confident sales person to tell me what I needed and ask for the sale. It took me two days to find that person. Funny thing is, I bet many of the others I spoke to had the right information, the right product, and what I needed. They just didn't tell me what I should do or ask me if I would like to go ahead.

Thanks and remember, ask and you will receive!