soap

Written By Jeffrey Gitomer
@GITOMER

KING OF SALES, The author of seventeen best-selling books including The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, and The Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude. His live coaching program, Sales Mastery, is available at gitomer.me.

SOAPThe personalized sale combined with the friendly sale was made possible through a referral…

Referred by a friend: The only reason I was willing to see Allen is because he was a friend of Ed Baker’s. I know Ed Baker, I like Ed Baker, I respect Ed Baker. Ed Baker is a friend of mine; therefore I will see anyone that Ed Baker sends me. That isn’t the point of this column. But it’s a damn good point to remember the next time you are trying to make an appointment.

Brilliant Branding: Allen and I were chatting after he had taken my check and put it into his brief case. He pulled a coffee cup out of his sales case, and it had the Tide (laundry soap) brand on it. For a moment I was confused, but I looked at the slogan on the coffee cup, ‘No wonder its called automatic drip coffee’ And it had the orange and yellow Tide circle behind it that everyone has been familiar with for the better part of 100 years. On the reverse side of the coffee cup was the tide logo and on the other side it read ‘five tips on ways to deal with coffee and other tough stains using the stain detective at www.tide.com.’ BRILLIANT! ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! What better place for a Tide ad than a place where stains are most likely to occur, what more direct marketing could you have for a Tide message than someone who just spilled coffee on their business clothing. An even that occurs thousands of times a day!

FOOTNOTE: Allen’s sales case was a classic. An antique from the pitchman’s era. I wanted it. An old fashioned sales case that he bought at a flea market for $8. I didn’t know this guy yet, but as soon as I saw his case I was starting to like him.

Buy Allen’s Soap:
Allen Soden, President
DEBSBS
Stanley, NC
704.263.4240

Manufacturer of hand care product for the away from home market, institution and industrial market. Manufacture of all types of soaps for hospitals, schools, airports, factories, car dealers, day care centers for the work place to provide hand washing choices. His company operates in 7 countries world wide.