The Collection

My parents took my daughter to Disneyland in California many years ago. My daughter Melissa was about nine at the time. After a full day of fun and rides my parents and daughter walked down Main Street into a gift store. My daughter said to my Father, “Grandpa, look here I really need these for my collection.” Sitting on a shelf was a set of a dozen ceramic Disney characters, all shinny and smiling.

My Father said, “OK, pick one out and I’ll buy it for you.” How could a grandpa refuse? My daughter responds, “But Grandpa, I need them all to finish my collection.” My Father said, “Well, I’ll buy you a few now, and then, buy you some more later if you’re a good girl the next time we come here.” “But Grandpa I really need all these now.”

So what does my Father do? Of course he gathers all the characters up and buys them for his granddaughter. An hour later they are back at our house. They walk in the door and my daughter says, “Daddy, look what Grandpa bought me,” as she unfolds the paper around the figurines. One by one she unravels the paper and shows us her new friends. My Father says to my Daughter, “OK Melissa, where’s your other figurines so we can add them to your collection?”

I said to my Father, “What collection”? He said Melissa wanted these figurines because they would finish her collection of Disney characters? I started to laugh out loud. “Dad, I hate to tell you this, but you just bought her, the collection. She doesn’t have a collection of these figurines. We all laughed because my Daughter had just done the best selling job on her grandfather, who in my opinion is the best salesman in the world.

My daughter had persisted in her desire to get what she wanted. You could look at this story in a few ways, yet I choose to look at it from the perspective of a good salesperson. My Daughter told her Grandfather what she wanted. She had a burning desire to pursue her Grandfather to buy theses items for her. She persisted when he said, “OK, pick one out and I’ll buy it for you.” My daughter came back with, “But Grandpa I really need these now.”

Too often as salespeople we don’t know what we want or how to ask for it. We don’t do the four “P’s” - Prepare, Practice, Pursue, or Persist. This is a clear example of persistence on my Daughter’s part. It’s amazing how you can learn salesmanship for children. I can hear my own Granddaughter’s say, “Hey Grand Brad, I need…

A Signature Story

Since moving to Colorado several years ago I have become a Colorado Rockies Fan. During the baseball season I attend as many Rockies games as I can. I often purchase some sort of memorabilia when I go to a game. Once I purchased an Official Major League Baseball with the Rockies Logo on it. What do you think I paid for this ball? $5.00 - $10.00 - $15.00? Actually I paid $2.50 at the Rockies souvenir store.

In my basement or “the mancave”, as my wife likes to call it, I have lots of baseball memorabilia. Baseball cards from my youth. Bobble Heads from stadiums I have visited. Pennants from different ballparks. And of course I have baseballs signed by some of the greats of the game. One of my favorite baseballs is from a pitcher. I looked up to him as a hero, when I was a kid.
This Hall of Famer had four no-hitters in four consecutive years.
A perfect game in 1965.
He won the Cy Young award for pitching three times.
He won the earned-run title five years in a row.
He won twenty-five or more games three times.
He had eleven shut outs in1963.
I am talking about Sandy Koufax.

Here’s a question? What's the difference between the Official Major League Baseball with the Rockies Logo on it and the ball signed by Sandy Koufax?
I would suggest that the difference is VALUE. The VALUE one assigns to something that is unique or different. Something that is outstanding or rare. That's what I would say you need to do in your business. You need to put your signature on what ever you do. You may buy in bulk and break assortments down to smaller resalable units. You may act as a banker by giving terms to your customers. You may be a consultant to your customers by providing them with the latest products and industry information. You need to add VALUE to whatever part of the channel of distribution you are in. VALUE is what the signature of Sandy Koufax adds to the baseball I have. Every time I hold that ball there is that little kid in me saying, Wow!!!. Now, do you provide that sort of VALUE to your customers? Do you provide them with, WOW!!!. If you are not, your competition is.

Batter up!!!