There are hard sales and then there are soft sales. The hard sale is like the guys on TV trying to sell you a car. They talk fast and loud and there always seems to be some urgency for you to come to the car lot in you pajamas and take delivery of new car before the promotion changes. Ha. A soft sale is the exact opposite of that. It is really selling without selling. The premise is to answer the client’s deepest questions without him/her having to ask. That is soft selling

Let me give you an example. We sell hotels, therefore a seller’s main questions (after he knows the value) revolve around your ability and experience in selling hotels like his. Pretty simple right? So let’s say the seller has a Hilton hotel. What he is most interested in is what Hilton hotels you have sold. Therefore, if we can answer his main questions before he has to ask, that is called soft selling. In our case, we have this PDF document that is 24 pages long with pictures and locations of every hotel we have sold in the last four years. We have the list broken down by hotel brand so that, say, all the Hampton Inns are located together. So again using the above example, if we are talking with a person that owns a Hilton Hotel, we simply show him pictures of all the Hilton hotels. If you don’t know this by now, I am a marginal at best salesman but this soft sell approach is old school at its best and it also really works.

When you are selling, words are ok but pictures are where the magic is. It is the single greatest sales tool of all time. Just print some pictures of what you are selling and use them in your business and you will be amazed at how effective they are. People don’t read too many words but they always look at pictures. Take yourself for example. If you read any news sources like USA Today, Fox News etc. on-line you do exactly what I do. You look at the picture first and then decide if you want to read the words.

Pretty simple right? Sometimes old school is the best school. Ha. KT

In business there is probably not a more endearing trait that people respect more than a person who returns phone calls. Not just returns them, but returns them before they leave for the day.

Somewhere in business school there must have been a class I missed where the teacher decided that proper business etiquette includes, ignoring and not returning phone calls. When you do this, it tells the caller that they are not as important as you think you are. I supposed it is entirely possible that I am just old school but a man by the name of Carl D. Silver made a huge impression on me 27 years ago. I was a no-body in the hotel business and Carl was a very successful commercial real estate developer and owner in Fredericksburg VA.

I remember 27 years ago, I called Carl’s office and left a message. I was at my desk around 5pm when I get this call from Carl Silver. He returned my call even thought I was a no-body and it made an impression on me and taught me how business ought to be conducted. Over the next several years I would periodically call Carl and I could set my watch that he would return every call before he left for the day. Now some would say that is an old fashioned and out of date practice but I say it is handling business with class.

The bible says to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I believe this simple business practice of returning every call every day will make an impression on people you deal with and will let that person know that they are important enough for your time. Carl passed away a few years ago but I have no doubt that I am merely one of many people that he made an impression on. KT