I’m seriously over “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and all the other novelty songs that get trotted out at this time of year, but I want to share with you a business classic with a Christmas theme.

For various reasons, we were looking for Christmas trees at the end of November.  My wife, who is a Christmas specialist, remembered seeing a sign advertising trees in our area, so we set off to find them. The journey took us many kilometres out of the city.  Just as we thought we’d lost our way, there’d be yet another sign.  The business lesson: heavy promotion activities work, so long as the presentation fits the product.

Eventually we pulled into a farm house, and I had barely opened the car door when a small 8 year old boy appeared and said, with barely disguised enthusiasm, “Do you want to buy a Christmas tree?”  From then on we were treated to a display of a soon-to-be master sales force at work.  His 9 year old brother quickly joined us and offered an early up-sell — did we want to buy a stand with that?

They showed us the trees, and the 8 year old solemnly explained “We’ve been in business since 1996, and these are our best trees yet”.  I thought the “we” was pretty interesting given that he only joined the firm in 2000, but I let it slide as he went into the trial close. “Do you want the $40 or $50 tree?” and he explained the merits of the $50 tree over the $40 one.

We surveyed the various options and the 9 year old inquired as to whether we’d like a cup of coffee while we thought about it.  Their proud but somewhat bemused father said that the coffee vending machine had been the boys’ idea. They were thinking about what else the customers might like to buy while they were looking at Christmas trees.

We were still musing when the 9 year old asked “Do you want to pay for it now? We can help you load it into the car”.  I thought they might struggle to deliver on that particular service promise, though I had no doubt they’d give it their best shot.  Luckily their father jumped in at that point. 

We made our choice, paid our money and went on our way, resolving that we’d be back next year to both buy a tree and to check out whether they’d got the sequence of their sales script sorted out.

Simple lessons really:
- Promote the hell out of yourself
- Hustle for every sale — but in a charming way

There’s an old sales rule “smile before you dial”.  Before you start a sales contact with anyone, make a conscious decision to help them achieve a perfect outcome.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

Dr Mike Ashby
4 December 2008