Easy money…
More money has been lost in pursuit of “easy money” than anything else in history.
And yet, there really is such a thing as easy money…
A huge percentage of what passes for marketing advice has to do with psychological tricks, coercion and manipulation. I think that’s because much of the sales advice that’s come down through the decades can be traced back to the era of door-to-door selling.
That’s not to say door-to-door selling is bad per se, but it does have a tendency to attract a somewhat less than savory element.
At the core of door-to-door selling is the idea that you are never coming back. You’re dropped off – literally – in a neigborhood and your job is to knock on as many doors, get in as many doors, make as many presentations, and close as many sales as you can in the time you have, usually an evening.
In traditional door-to-door selling, your pay comes from what you sell that night and you get only one chance per prospect to close. Fail to close and you may fail to eat that day.
While there is a certain rugged romanticism to that image, you can imagine the temptation people in that position sometimes feel to sell no matter what regardless of the consequences for the buyer.
Selling and business building are two different things. The old school door-to-door salesman was not interested in building a business. He wanted sales today and now. By taking that approach to an extreme, he insured that he never built a business. Every day that he woke up, he faced a blank slate. Again, it may sound romantic, but the glamor of the challenge, such as it is, wears off pretty fast.
There is a way to sell that also builds businesses and it’s so simple that many sales people and marketers miss it.
It’s this…
Being trustworthy.
Being trustworthy streamlines the selling process dramatically…being trustworthy is the best “closing” technique on earth…being trustworthy amplifies the effectiveness of all your marketing messages exponentially.
“Oh, Joe says I should get this. OK. Ship me one. Thanks.”
Selling can be that easy and sales like that are easy money personified.
So how do you become perceived as being trustworthy?
Again, it’s not rocket science…
Be trustworthy. Be trustworthy and organize your business in such a way that it operates in a way that people trust.
They trust that their questions will be answered. They trust that they’ll be treated respectfully, nicely even. They trust that what you say about what you’re selling is true. And they trust that if there is a problem, you’re going to give a damn and do something about it.
Yes, it is possible to simulate trust, to synthesize it out of empty words and gestures, and that’s the province of the con artist. While it may seem in the short run that con artists prosper (and some do), you’ll not see one with a business that grows and grows. Con artists are masters of the quick exit and the long disappearance. It’s hard to build a business that way,
Building trust takes time and so does building a business.
In a sense, a business is nothing more than a network of trust relationships.
We often hear that is it a “dog eat dog” world and unethical behavior is often dismissed with a shrug “that’s just business,” but logically who is going to have the most positive business and customer relationships? It’s the people and businesses that act in a trustworthy manner.
Now, being trustworthy is not a cure all. It won’t overcome sloppy operations or careless planning or poor employee selection and training. But when all other things are being done right, being trustworthy is what turns a mere salesman into a trusted advisor and just another supplier into a category king.
Yes, there really is easy money in this world. It’s in earning and re-earning the position of trusted advisor and partner to the people in your marketplace.
– Ken McCarthy
P.S. For over 25 years I’ve been sharing the simple but powerful things that matter in business with my clients.
If you’d like direction for your business that will work today, tomorrow and twenty years from now, visit us at the System Club.
Ken McCarthy is the sponsor and organizer of the System Seminar.
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