Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Men, you are duly warned. On Valentine’s Day the colour red means the exact opposite of danger; it means safety, love. Then again it means danger for the hapless husband or boyfriend that forgets it! To date, men, still wonder, ‘Why is Valentine’s Day celebrated?’ Valentine’s Day makes a curious study in selling. Here are three lessons in selling from Valentine’s Day.
Lesson One
Sales for Valentine’s Day’s gifts virtually ride on emotion. The price of a rose, for instance, will increase with every passing hour from ten shillings to easily hit one hundred, tomorrow. It may even be bought at two hundred shillings by the husband who, coming from the ‘Men’s conference’ late tomorrow evening, is gripped by panic when he remembers The Day on his way home, especially if he possibly had had a tiff with the wife. For him, bereft of Valentine’s Day gift ideas, paying twenty times the normal cost, is a small price for a stab at peace at home. Doesn’t sound as romantic as Valentine’s Day history tells us I suppose, but alas!, that’s the truth about Valentine’s Day.
So, when pressure for time is intense, exploit it. Confidently tell the pressured contractor as you show him where to sign that, “Importing a lift takes six weeks. If you are to deliver the project as per your schedule we have to order it today.” In a negotiation, be aware of which party is pressured for time and respond accordingly to the request for discount. Don’t be too smug about it though. You run the risk of being left with a withering rose no one wants because the price you asked for was more intimidating than the sulking wife. That’s the first of lessons in selling from Valentine’s Day.
Selling lesson two from Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day also brings out the love for last minute action by any bona fide Kenyan. For all the pressure he feels, you would imagine the day is sprung on him, and not that he had 365 days’ notice. For the past week reminders of Valentine’s Day have been trending on all media. But still, even some reading this will still be caught flat-footed tomorrow when it dawns on them, “Shucks! I haven’t bought a gift.”
What’s the Sales lesson from Valentine’s Day, here? Well, understanding the Kenya buyer, progressive sellers like All and Sundry have ready-to-dispatch gift packs. They will send an image of such via WhatsApp to you for approval; you will then pay via MPESA, text the address, and the delivery is made to your ecstatic lady- a physical and clinical transaction on an otherwise emotionally charged day. So, when the buyer says, “I want this”, and you know ‘this’ is what he needs, just ask for payment, without insisting on making a presentation because you had painstakingly prepared it.
Read: Limit your pitch to only what is necessary to close
Lesson Three
Finally, for the chosen few that have planned meticulously for Valentine’s Day, kudos! She will love you for it and quickly forgive any of the countless relationship landmines you will certainly step on over the year. (Maybe, just don’t forget her birthday). Equally, keeping your clients continually wowed makes it easy for them to forgive you defending you thus: “You know you are our go-to guy. It’s unlike you to make that mistake,” when you goof, as you most definitely will at some point.
Happy Valentine’s Day
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