Playboy Says Showing Enthusiasm Closes More Sales

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I'll never forget the time I was invited to pitch a sales training program to the Playboy Channel.

My contact was a woman who had attended one of my public seminars, and after a preliminary discussion about my onsite methodology for building sales, she leaned over the desk, toward me, and nearly whispered, "Are you excited about the idea of working for Playboy?"

Actually, I wasn't.

And it showed.

And no sale was made.

Don't ask me what was going on in my mind, because I'm not quite sure.

It wasn't visions of hanging with "Hef" at The Playboy Mansion, surrounded by Bunny after Bunny; that I know.

Obviously, it was clear to my prospect that I wasn't gushing over the idea of having Playboy on my client list. Oddly, names like Xerox, DuPont, Kraft, turned me on, and, I suppose, it showed.

If there is a moral to this story, it's this: We need to show a certain level of ENTHUSIASM to close sales, and even if we don't have it, we should fake it.

Yesterday, for instance, I called back a prospect and said, with real fervor, "Let's get this program going on Monday afternoon, and start making you some money, okay?"

His response. "Right, I just need to tell my boss I want to do this, that's all."

"Right!"

"Right"

We were like two football players crashing helmets before the big game.

That's a sale I'm going to make!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.