Making a sale without selling

ser⋅en⋅dip⋅i⋅ty

Making a desirable discovery by accident.

I just had an epiphany after reading an informative article from kevinhogan.com. The article was about dealing with people’s preconceived notions when making sales. This was where my serendipity occurred. Two days earlier, I had picked up two wholesale accounts by doing one simple thing.

I was emailed by a potential wholesale client from Denver who had found out about us from a web search. Instead of calling him back, I told him to check out our Yelp reviews and gave him my phone number.

One hour later, his girlfriend called me on the phone. She asked me a couple of basic questions. I started to tell her about our products but she interrupted.

 “Don’t bother, we want to use you,” she said.

She said her boyfriend had checked Yelp and was so impressed with the reviews that he immediately knew we were the right company for him.

I was thrilled about the account, but my brain must have been on autopilot. I had a Homer Simpson moment – the reason for my sale did not occur to me until I read the Kevin Hogan article. It was serendipity. My current customers had helped create a future sale.

Most of you would say that it is common sense to use references, testimonials, reviews, etc. The problem is, knowledge is worthless unless we utilize it. Twenty-four out of 27 of my Yelp reviews are five stars, but I have never utilized this for marketing.

Ask your best customers for testimonials. Check online comments or reviews of your products or services. Use this information to pre-sell what you offer. Put it in your marketing materials, website, and advertisements.  The buzz created by your current customers will send a powerful message to future ones.