Chapter 3, "Caveat Emptor to Caveat Venditor" or Buyer Beware to Seller Beware, is all about how information has changed the selling process and how sales is perceived.
Pink starts by showcasing answers to the questions "What do you think of sales?" which was mostly negative being words like pushy slimy and even yuck. with a few positives like fun. and when asked to picture a sales the main answers are "car sales" or "used car sales".
Pink goes on to tell how the history car sales shows how the it's turned from buyer beware to seller beware. Not too long ago the salesman would be the only one who knew if a car was a peach or a lemon, leading to the customer to have constant crusty ant in the typical sales process. The sleazy sales person benefits being able to sell a lemon at a peach price, while honest sales people could never sell the true value of a car due to the mistrust. However today the customer can be even more informoed than the seller due the internet.This turning buyer beware into seller beware.
Pink then sells the story of Joe Girard, the self proclaimed best seller and sold the most cars in the world via Guinness Book. His book "How to sell anything to anybody" walks through his selling cycle of prospecting which starts with lying by starting the call with "We have the car you purchased" as a opener and says he has been wherever the customer says the went for vacation. His rule of everyone knows 250 people to have a referral program to everyone leading him to very well. however Gerard hasn't sold since the 70s and says his course doesn't need to be adapted at all given all of the change since the 70s. Gerard's sleazy ways worked in the buyer beware but according to many it no longer works. Pink even says training on a selling style turns sales people into a robot but in today's sales what is most important is persistence and empathy.
Pink ends the chapter with the story of Carnac through transparency on pricing, sales commission, no haggling, and most of all transpent on the car led to them growing to a Fortune 500 company while the Girards are now dinosaurs.
Takeaways:
Prospects have a negative thought of sales people so it's important during the intro to build trust and have true empathy for them.
if you are being trained, ask how this training has changed via covid or remote selling to gauge how relevant it still is
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