{"id":938,"date":"2012-03-29T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2012-03-29T17:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/?p=938"},"modified":"2012-03-29T12:00:26","modified_gmt":"2012-03-29T17:00:26","slug":"the-pizza-linen-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2012\/03\/29\/the-pizza-linen-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pizza Linen Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: I wrote this article while living in Charlotte, NC last year and, while it\u2019s not new, it\u2019s probably new to you, as I\u2019ve never shared it with readers of Reman University. It has nothing to do with the automotive industry. Except that it has everything<\/strong> to do with the automotive industry. Read it, enjoy it, and profit from it.<\/em>
\n

\"\u00a9

\u00a9 [Anton Gepolov] \/ Dollar Photo Club<\/p><\/div>Yesterday I stopped at a NY-style pizza parlor here in Charlotte. Now, before you go thinking that I don\u2019t know pizza or that NY pizza is only good in NY, just know that I\u2019ve been a connoisseur for nearly 30 years. This particular restaurant is owned and operated by two displaced New Yorkers. Yes, I know the water in Charlotte is not the same as New York, but the pizza itself here is damn good. I could pretty much live on it three meals a day if my wife would let me.
\nThis particular day I ordered a slice at the counter and then moved over to the register to pay, only to find a customer bent over the counter pointing to a catalog and a business card and totally blocking me from getting to the register. I waited for half a minute or so and then I began to listen to what he was saying as I grew frustrated with his apparent disregard for anyone and everyone in the line behind him.
\n\u201cWho owns this place?\u201d he said.
\nThe guy behind the counter says, \u201cI do.\u201d
\n\u201cGreat, and who handles your linen service here?\u201d the sales guy says.
\n\u201cI do,\u201d replies the owner.
\n\u201cOh, great. I wanted to stop by and tell you a little about my company, drop off a catalog, and find out if you need any help with your current linen program.\u201d
\nFirst I\u2019m aggravated with the guy for blocking me from paying for my pizza (which I\u2019m now eating at the counter), and now I\u2019m boiling from the inside out listening to this guy\u2019s pathetic pitch. I can\u2019t hold myself back, so I say, \u201cHey, buddy, you\u2019ve got no shot at this point. Go back to the end of the line and try again.\u201d
\nMaybe I was a little harsh, but I knew there was zero probability of this poor attempt turning out well for the guy. I could see I really bruised his ego, so I continued, \u201cLook, you\u2019re going about this all wrong. You\u2019re holding up a line of customers just to tell the owner all about yourself. You think he cares about you? I mean, you think he\u2019s listening? Or do you think he wants you to hurry up so he can collect money from all these folks behind me?\u201d
\nThe sales guy became apologetic and suddenly aware he picked a bad spot to make his pitch.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s not over yet. Tell you what…how about I buy you a slice and I\u2019ll give you a few ideas on how you can approach and engage your prospects going forward\u201d
\nThen I looked at the owner and asked, \u201cwould you be willing to sit down with my friend here after we\u2019re done eating a couple of slices of the best pizza in Charlotte?\u201d
\n\u201cSure! But you have to try the Grandma slice. It\u2019s the best.\u201d
\nSince I was halfway through the slice I started in line, I ordered two Grandmas and went to sit down with the linen salesman.
\nWe talked about his business, how long he\u2019s been at this, his product line, his success rate, who his perfect customer is, and much more.
\nHe had all the right ingredients for sales success: passion, belief in his product, belief in his company, zero fear of rejection, willing to work his tail off. He was just missing one thing – the sauce. The secret sauce. The sauce that adds all the zest and flavor. The differentiating factor in both great pizza and great salespeople.\"The<\/a>
\nI gave him a few ideas to try in the future, but I really wanted to help him here – today. Every salesperson wants to make the sale today, so I knew if I were truly going to make an impact, I had to do it now.
\n\u201cWould you mind if I went through the line and made the pitch myself? I\u2019ll help you make the sale and you don\u2019t have to give me your commission. Sound fair?\u201d\u00a0 I asked.
\nHesitantly, my new linen buddy, replied, \u201cI guess so. I\u2019ll stand where I can hear you…good luck.\u201d
\nSo I get to the counter and the owner is no longer there. I don\u2019t even bother asking where he is at this point, I simply order from the guy by the ovens.
\n\u201cI heard you have the best pizza in town. I\u2019d like a pie to go for my kids, and I\u2019ll have a slice for here – but I\u2019d like to eat the slice with the owner of this place while I\u2019m waiting for you to make the pie. Tell him I have an idea for him that will make his restaurant even better.\u201d
\n\u201cLet me see if I can find him,\u201d the counter guy said as he went running off to the office.
\nA moment later, the counter guy came back and said \u201cHe wants to know who it is.\u201d
\n\u201cTell him I\u2019m a linen guy who knows pizza as well as I know linen. Lived in New York a few years back, and this place makes me miss it.\u201d
\nWithin thirty seconds, the owner comes out, sees it\u2019s me, and smiles. The three of us sit down – me, the owner, and the real linen guy – and talk pizza, New York, family, Charlotte, the pizza business, the restaurant business…basically, everything BUT linens. Within five minutes, we became great friends. Turns out we had a lot in common. When the right moment came to discuss what the linen guy had to offer, I set the stage and left. The linen guy got up to thank me and joked, \u201cI\u2019m going to get fat if I use this approach everywhere I go.\u201d
\n\u201cSo might your wallet,\u201d I quipped back.
\nI know you\u2019re probably dying to know if we made the sale. The truth is, I don\u2019t know. That decision was entirely up to the owner, and to the merits of the program the linen guy had to offer. My work was done and my kids\u2019 pizza was ready. I had succeeded in creating an environment in which the linen guy actually had a shot. More business is lost as a result of a poor approach than anything else.
\nIn fact, the success of any salesperson is directly tied to his\/her ability to capture the attention of the prospect. There\u2019s no reason to begin your pitch until you know the other guy is listening with interest. Most salespeople are under the false impression that they need to spend all of their time preparing the features and benefits portion of their presentation. I can just imagine the thought process: \u201cWell, if I can just master this PowerPoint deck, I\u2019m sure people will buy from me.\u201d Those salespeople could not be more wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my sales presentation success formula:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Spend your time preparing your approach, and your prospects will spend their time with you. Prepare in terms of your prospect – make it personal to them.<\/li>\n
  2. The best way to make it person is to know something about them first. Try LinkedIn, Google, your local newspaper, a mutual connection…whatever. Just don\u2019t walk in cold.<\/li>\n
  3. Start friendly. Engage your prospect with a smile and an emotional question. In this case, you might try, \u201cWhat do you miss most about New York?\u201d or, \u201cWhat\u2019s the single best piece of pizza you\u2019ve ever had in your life?\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. Get your prospect away from his business if at all possible. Here, I succeeded in pulling the owner out from his office, from behind the counter, to a table – with food on it. I made him comfortable and removed distractions from the equation.<\/li>\n
  5. Ask a few questions about your prospect\u2019s business to get an understanding of what he values most in a vendor before you begin to talk about yourself.<\/li>\n
  6. Get the prospect to view you as a person of value, as a resource, as a friend, as anything other than salesperson.<\/li>\n
  7. Now, start the linen discussion.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Note: I wrote this article while living in Charlotte, NC last year and, while it\u2019s not new, it\u2019s probably new to you, as I\u2019ve never shared it with readers of Reman University. It has nothing to do with the automotive industry. Except that it has everything to do with the automotive industry. Read it, enjoy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[95,14,96,97],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Pizza Linen Sale - REMANU<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2012\/03\/29\/the-pizza-linen-sale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pizza Linen Sale - REMANU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Note: I wrote this article while living in Charlotte, NC last year and, while it\u2019s not new, it\u2019s probably new to you, as I\u2019ve never shared it with readers of Reman University. It has nothing to do with the automotive industry. 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