1: Mr. K was “arguably the best salesman in the U.S. wine industry,” Jeffrey Fox writes in How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients.
Mr. K became chairman of one of the country’s finest premium wine companies. ” For over thirty years, he personally sold millions of dollars’ worth of wine, and many of those sales were made well before wine was as fashionable as it is today.”
What was his all-time greatest sale?
It was the 1950s. ” Mr. K. was trying to sell wines from an upstate New York winery to one of the most famous and finest establishments in New York City,” Jeffrey writes.
“This legendary restaurant was (and still is) frequented by a cosmopolitan and discriminating clientele, and it served only the best European wines. The restaurant was exclusive and catered to the desires of its patrons.”
For six months, Mr. K. attempted to get an appointment with the restaurant owner. No luck.
Then, Mr. K learned that the owner regularly ate lunch at the restaurant bar at 3 pm each day.
So, one afternoon, Mr. K. purposefully entered the restaurant and approached the owner while he was at lunch.
Jeffrey recounts the conversation that followed:
MR. K.: Excuse me for interrupting, Mr. Owner. My name is Mr. K., and my purpose is to show you why you should consider putting ABC Wines on your wine list. May I continue?
OWNER: I am having my lunch.
MR. K.: Mr. Owner, you meet with your customers every day when they are having lunch. I assure you, I do not wish to be a bother, but like you, meeting customers is also my job. This will take two minutes. May I…?
OWNER: Two minutes.
MR. K.: Will you please put ABC Wines on your wine list?
OWNER: No.
MR. K.: Why can’t you?
OWNER: The wines taste terrible, and I don’t like them.
MR. K.: Mr. Owner, I agree with you. The wines do not appeal to everyone. But if I can show you why that doesn’t matter, would you consider them?
OWNER: I’m listening.
MR. K.: Thank you. The reason you should give these wines a try is not because you or I don’t care for the taste, but because thirty-five to forty of your regular customers do like the taste. Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith like ABC Wines. And several times your waiters have been asked if you have those wines. This is a business opportunity worth $200 a week. Mr. Owner, you should put ABC Wines in here because your customers will order and drink them. Isn’t that reasonable?
OWNER: I will look into it and decide tomorrow.
MR. K.: That’s fair enough. Thank you.
“The next day,” Jeffrey writes, “Mr. K. received an order for ten cases of ABC Wines. This was more than a token order, and ABC Wines have been on the wine list ever since. Every major restaurant in New York City soon put Mr. K.’s wines on their wine lists.”
2: This week, we will be exploring some of the lessons from Jeffrey’s How to Be a Rainmaker book. So, what exactly happened here, and what can we learn from Mr. K?
First, “Mr. K. did his precall homework and determined when and where to find the customer,” Jeffrey writes.
Next, Mr. K immediately states the objective of the sales call, and he does so in the form of a question. In fact, he concludes every statement in question form, requesting the owner’s agreement.
“Mr. K. was polite, always asking permission to continue,” Jeffrey notes. He says “thank you,” “please,” and “may I.”
He uses non-threatening words like “consider” (twice), “reasonable,” and “fair.” Words like these encourage a mature dialog. “The word fair is a strong selling word because it appeals to the customer’s sense of fairness,” Jeffrey writes.
Mr. K states up front how long the conversation will take (two minutes) and receives agreement from the owner to proceed—the all-important first agreement in the sales cycle.
During the conversation, Mr. K receives two additional agreements from the owner. ” Mr. K. acknowledged the second commitment (‘I’m listening’) by saying ‘thank you.’ Mr. K. acknowledged the third commitment (‘I will look into it’) by saying, “Thank you.’
“Acknowledging and cementing commitments is strong technique,” Jeffrey writes. ” The customer realizes he has agreed to something, and if the customer continues, it is a buy signal.
Next, Mr. K did his research and brings information to the owner, “Giving a customer new information,” Jeffrey notes, “allows the customer to change his or her mind without losing face.”
These third-party testimonials from the restaurant’s waiters are powerful because they can easily be verified.
3: Critically, Mr. K. asks for the order: “Will you please put ABC Wines on your wine list?”
Jeffrey writes: “Mr. K. did what some studies indicate that 90 percent of all salespeople don’t do: Mr. K. asked for the order.”
When the owner said “No,” Mr. K responds by saying: Why can’t you?”
“Mr. K. thought about and planned the exact wording of this response for weeks,” Jeffrey notes.
“The use of the word can’t, as opposed to don’t, or won’t, is a subtle challenge of the owner’s authority and power,” he writes.
“‘Can’t implies someone else has the power. This is unacceptable to many customers,” he shares. ” If Mr. K. had asked ‘Why won’t you?’ the owner could have comfortably answered with a number of legitimate reasons, such as ‘We only serve French wines.’ ”
Next, when the owner indicated he didn’t like the wines, Mr. K didn’t argue with him. ” Mr. K. agreed that it was OK not to like the wines,” he writes. ” Mr. K. did not debate. He deflated the rhetoric by agreeing.”
He then uses a specific closing technique: “If I… will you” close (“… if I can show you… would you consider?”).
Jeffrey writes: “This is good technique because the customer feels the burden is on the salesperson, not on the customer. But if the customer agrees to this proposal, and the salesperson delivers his promise, the customer is committed.”
Mr. K. also provides a convincing reason for the owner to buy: Thirty-five to forty of the owner’s patrons would order the wine.
In doing so, he “eliminated the all-too-common customer/ salesperson give and take,” Jeffrey notes.
“Mr. K. took the focus off what the owner thought and put it on the restaurant patrons and waiters. This is called triangulation. The customer, the salesperson, and the third entity are the points of the triangle. Mr. K. and the owner can refer to the third entity and avoid parrying with each other.”
Then, Mr. K. asks, “Would you consider them?” utilizing a variation on one of Jeffrey’s killer sales questions: “Why don’t you give it a try?”
Jeffrey points out that the objective of every sales call is “to get a close or a commitment to an action that leads to a close. The customer’s agreement to ‘look into it’ was a commitment to an action that leads to a close.”
Final question: What was Mr. K. selling?
“If he were selling wines,” Jeffrey writes, “perhaps he might have brought a sample to taste (which would have killed the sale).
“But Mr. K. wasn’t selling wine.”
Mr. K was selling money. The owner would receive $200 a week from featuring the wine.
More tomorrow!
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Reflection: What lessons or takeaways do I take from Mr. K’s approach?
Action: Experiment with one of these ideas in an upcoming meeting.
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