Last Tuesday, I found myself bored out of my mind because I had to sit still at a table in the SAC selling tickets for five hours… Those of you who know me understand that I can’t go without moving for maybe ten seconds – and being trapped in the same chair for basically the time span of two night classes was going to make me blow a fuse.
So I decided to play a game. My table was poised perfected between the entrance of the GeDunk and the main door that everyone uses to cut through the SAC after classes get out. I was in a prime fishing zone. So what did I do? Anybody who I was at least decently acquainted with and that was in earshot soon found themselves roped into a fast-paced conversation with me.
I kicked off every conversation by asking them if they would be making an appearance at the Mitchell Bros.’ Farewell Comedy Tour – once I received a ‘no’ or a ‘maybe,’ the games could begin. My whole strategy was to make them realize how much more they wanted to be at the show laughing and enjoying themselves than holed up somewhere studying chem, accounting, or history.
My typical set included lines and questions about which professors would be featured and what they were doing (sometimes all I had to say was that Dr. Schaefer was reading a poignant but funny section from the Horse and His Boy and the sale was closed) and how buying a ticket now would be like no-studying insurance for that 90 minutes (because surely in a whole night of studying, you’ll waste at least that much between social media, Sheetz, friends, and more Sheetz).
One question though I never asked at the end of my spiel was: “So are you ready to buy a ticket?” Because by then, the prospect had usually come to that conclusion themselves. And that’s exactly what Sandler says salesmen should do in Rule #16: “Never Ask for the Order – Make the Prospect Give Up.” And judging by the number of dollars that our prospects ended up giving up for the Tuesday night spectacle, I think we were pretty successful.
(What does all this have to do with the gummy bears I mentioned in the title? No much – other than the fact that the sugar rush I got from them at the start of my shift sparked my craving to sell and sell hard.)
BoweryJE22