A hostess approaches a husband and wife standing alone and says, “Table for how many?”
“I don’t know,” the hubby replies.
Socialite Nancy Astor says to an annoying and drunk Winston Churchill: “Winston, if you were my husband, I’d put poison in your coffee.” Churchill famously replies: “Nancy, if you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
Mad Magazine devoted a whole section to repartee, calling it “Snappy Comebacks to Stupid Questions.” Churchill, Mark Twain, Mae West and Groucho Marx elevated snappy retorts to an art form.
Great comebacks are a wonderful tool in sales, too. Of course, they won’t be insulting. Not unless you really don’t want the sale.
Every sales professional needs what I call The Great Response. Let’s say you’re trying to persuade a customer to attend a seminar, implement a new service or switch products, and he says, “I don’t have time for that.” What’s your response? I hope it isn’t, “Um, well, OK.”
Next time you find yourself in that spot, try: “That’s what average business owners say, but you’re not average or you wouldn’t be here. The people who do this are above average.”
The Great Response works in all kinds of situations where you meet resistance. Like Churchill, you just have to be one step ahead with a great answer.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am and is filed under Sales tips, Small Business Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Leave a Reply
