Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Sales Manager Pep Talk

The manager of ladies' dress shop realized it was time to give one
her sale clerks a ' pep talk '. "Jane, your figures are well below
any of our other salespeople' s. In fact, unless you can improve your
sales record soon, I'm afraid you'll have to let you go."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am," said a humbled Jane. "Can you give me any advice
on how to do better?"

"Well, there is an old trick I can tell you about. It sounds silly,
but it's worked for me in the past. Get hold of a dictionary and go
through it until you come to a word that had particular power for
you. Memorize it, work it into your sales pitch whenever it seems
appropriate, and you'll be amazed at the results."

Sure enough, Jane's sales figures went way up, and at the end
of themonth, the manager called her in again and congratulated her.
"Didyou try my little trick?" she asked.

Jane nodded. "It took me a whole weekend to find the right word, but
I did:.... ' Fantastic.' "

"'Fantastic. ' What a good word," said the manager
encouragingly. "How have you been using it?"

"Well, my first customer on Monday was a woman who told me her
little girl had just been accepted at the most exclusive prep school
in the city. I said, 'Fantastic.' She went on to tell me how her
daughter always got straight A's and was the most popular
girl inher class, I said 'Fantastic' and she bought $300 worth of
clothing. My next customer said she needed a formal dress for the spring
ball at the country club, which she was in charge of. I said
'Fantastic.' She went on to tell she had the best figure of anyone on
thecommittee and her husband makes the most money. I said 'Fantastic'
and she not only bought the designer gown, but hundreds of dollars
of other merchandise. It's been like that all week: the customers
keep boasting, I keep saying 'Fantastic', and they keep buying."

"Excellent work, Jane," complimented her boss. "Just as a point of
interest, what did you used to say to customers before you
discovered your power word?"

Jane shrugged. "I used to say, 'Who gives a shit ?'"