Hard sell at the farmer’s market

New guy was there, taking Michael’s place. He had these little amazing eggplants with him, and he wasn’t prepared to let anyone walk away from the stand without one.

Each person who walked up to buy lettuce or raspberries heard, in detail, about the eggplants. And a huge number of people bought.

I did. They were delicious.

Most people are afraid of eggplant. They won’t buy it. They need to be sold it.

And after they’re sold, they’re often glad they were sold.

In our permission marketing world, sometimes it’s easy to forget how important selling is. Not because people are so stupid that they need to be sold something. Not because selling is obsolete because you can just search for what you want and then buy it. No, because selling overcomes fear. Fear of closing, fear of commitment, fear of blanching or sauteeing or just plain fear of buying something.

Salespeople who sell properly sell stuff people wish they would have bought in the first place. It’s a huge service… I’m pretty sure we need more good salespeople, not less.