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Sales Made Easy 9 – My Four-Word Rules For Success. Number 8 in a series.
We’ve spent the last few weeks discussing my four-word rules for business success. My goal remains simple: I want to give you easy-to-implement tools, tactics, and techniques to improve your business.
Each rule is only four words long because often that’s all it takes to make a huge difference when you build your brand and business.
If you missed any of the rules, you can find them all on my website’s blog page HERE.
Sales Made Easy – 9 in a series.
But first a story:
My college roommate and his girlfriend were celebrating their first anniversary, and he wanted to take her somewhere special for the big day.
When he asked her where she wanted to go for dinner, she didn’t hesitate for a second. “Benihana,” she said with a big smile.
There was only one problem. My college roommate had never been to Benihana, had never eaten Japanese food, and didn’t know how to eat with chopsticks.
He was scared he’d do something stupid, so he asked me if I would find a date and go with them.
I pointed out that a double date wouldn’t be that romantic, but he disagreed.
“We’ll call it an anniversary party,” he said. “And while we’re there, you can show me how the place works.”
When the day arrived, the four of us met at the restaurant. We were ushered to the hibachi table and sat with the two other couples already there. And besides us, there were another eight strangers on the other side of the big table.
My roommate looked at me with raised eyebrows.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered, “they always put you with others. It’s fun. And it’s a party, remember?”
A moment later, the waitress showed up and offered us a steaming rolled-up washcloth from a bamboo tray.
My roommate looked at me, panic-stricken. I whispered, “Take one and wash your hands. DO NOT use it to wash your face.”
He smiled with relief and did as he was told.
After that, things progressed nicely. My roommate chose a drink and found things on the menu to order all by himself. It wasn’t until the waitress handed out the bowls of miso soup that he looked at me with panic in his eyes.
“What’s with the funny spoon?” he said under his breath. “Why is it shaped like this?”
I couldn’t resist.
“It’s because the soup is always so hot. To make sure you don’t burn yourself, scoop the soup up in the spoon and then put the other end in your mouth. Just tilt it up and let the soup run down the channel to cool off.”
“Wow!! I love that. Let me try it.”
He scooped up some soup, turned the spoon around, and let it run down the handle into his mouth. He was so intrigued and excited that he did it repeatedly, never noticing that everyone at our table and in our corner of the restaurant was watching him.
Finally, my roommate looked up in mid-slurp. He froze when he noticed the whole room staring at him.
He put down his spoon.
Sales Made Easy – 9 in a series.
No matter what you’re doing or selling, there’s always another way to delight people.
Have you ever noticed the arrow in the FedEx logo? If you have, you can’t look at the logo without seeing it. But if you haven’t, you’ll be stunned that the arrow has been there all along.
How about the “31” (representing their flavor selection) in Baskin Robbins’ logo?
Can you recall how wonderful it smells when you walk into a Four Seasons Hotel anywhere?
Have you ever gotten off a long flight at Las Vegas‘ McCarran airport and seen the directional sign for the bathrooms? They’re posters of the bald blue guys from Blue Man Group pointing the way. Except in this poster, the bald blue guys are yellow.
Sales Made Easy – 9 in a series.
Like the spoon’s OTHER function, some of the most delightful surprises are Hidden in Plain Sight.
Tesla adds delightful surprises to their cars’ computer screens, including my favorite: a diagram for turning the car into a submarine resembling James Bond’s Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Apple sets the pace of the flashing “on” light on their laptops to mirror a human heartbeat.
To make your sales and your business a success, my Four-Word Rule for Success 9 is There’s Always Another Solution.