SELLING TO GEEZERS

By Hank Trisler

Friend and long-time TRISLER TIMES subscriber, Charlie Runion, of Roswell, GA, left a message on our website, www.nobullselling.com, asking for some information about selling insurance to senior citizens. I have no idea why he would think me expert in these matters, save the fact that I, myself, have achieved codgerhood by a considerable margin, but lack of knowledge has never stopped me in the past, so here goes.

We geezers are not all that much different from the rest of you. You still need to ask a lot of questions, find out what we want and show us how to get it. All the basic stuff, just like you civilians.

Having said that, there are some differences. Most of my friends are also codgers. We seem to run in groups. I play golf and tennis with geezers and seldom find myself in close proximity with twenty-something individuals. This tells me that those wishing to sell something to me would be well advised to find out what I read and advertise there. To find out where I hang out and spend some time there. To find out what I hold dear and support that cause. Build affinity by proximity.

We look a little different from some of you younger folks. I have a distrust of people wearing goatees and shaved heads. I have a great deal of difficulty buying from those with jewelry piercing visible body parts. Green and purple hair puts me off.

Though our common language may be English, we seem to speak differently than some of you. Phrases such as, "You know?" "I'm all. . ." and "Like. . ." are not only foreign, but mildly offensive to me.

Rightly or wrongly, I think that merely having lived long enough to have achieved codgerhood garners me a modicum of respect. I bristle when a young waiter says to us, "What'll you guys have?" I know they mean no ill, but Barbara and I are not guys, we're geezers, with all the attendant respect that title deserves. I am drawn to people who respect my views and solicit my opinion.

The further I progress into geezerdom, the less mobile I become. I'm told that this is a trend likely to continue. People who make it easy for me to buy will probably get my business. Home delivery, websites, meetings at places I frequent and the like are of benefit to me and mine.

Though I am getting progressively less mobile, I'm not getting more stupid. I don't want people to talk loud and slow to me, predicated on the assumption that I am dim and hearing impaired. I think I've learned a few things over the years and dislike people who condescend to me.

This is by no means a complete guide to selling to geezers, but merely a starting point. I solicit your stories, theories, experiences and strategies of separating we codgers from our money.

ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS THIEVES?

By Hank Trisler

There is a wondrous little place on the California North Coast, about five miles above Gualala, called the Whale Watch Inn. They have but eighteen beautifully decorated rooms hanging on a high cliff overlooking the Pacific. There are no telephones, no television sets, no faxes and no e-mail. They serve a simply grand breakfast to you, in your room, at a time of your choosing. It may be as close to heaven as you can get without donning wings.

Though our spacious room had two decks and a commanding view of the ocean, we decided to play some Gin Rummy in the huge community room. There was a roaring fire in the central fireplace and fresh coffee in thermos bottles on the sideboard. There was Scrabble, Clue, Chess, Trivial Pursuit and even Monopoly, but we couldn't find any cards, so we asked the innkeeper for a deck.

"We don't have any," she said, "They seem to grow legs and walk off even quicker than our binoculars."

We got in the car and drove to the General Store in Anchor Bay to get cards, for $3.40 a deck.

What's wrong with this picture? First, the innkeeper implied that her guests who pay $385, and up, per night were a bunch of kleptomaniacs. We felt vague discomfort by association. Lesson: Never speak ill of a customer to another customer. You just can't win that game.

Second, the lodging business is one of condoned pilferage. There were boxes of wooden matches, bottles of shampoo, conditioner, bath gel and the like, all emblazoned with the stylish Whale Watch logo. These are clearly put there for the guests to steal. Question: How much can playing cards, with the logo, cost? If we paid $3.40 retail, I have to believe they could get them for less than a buck, about the cost of matches and shampoo. We didn't want matches and were up to our collective butt in shampoo. What we wanted was playing cards. If you're going to put something out for your guests to steal, why not something they want to steal? We would have thought fondly of Whale Watch each time we played and friends of ours would have seen the cards and referrals would surely result. Isn't this just another case of finding out what your customers want and giving it to them?

Speaking of Cards

Barbara beat me like a cheap gong in Gin Rummy. No real surprise there, it happens a lot. It wasn't really that she got so much better cards than I did (though I'd like to believe that was the case), but she played the cards she got just a little bit better. She remembered the cards that were played and was able to have a pretty good idea what I had and what I needed, so she could keep it away from me. Possibly most important, she knew a bad hand when she saw it and was able to minimize her losses by knocking on high numbers.

It struck me how much the business of selling is like playing cards. We all tend to draw about the same kind of customers, but some of us seem to play them just a little bit better. The best players are often those who know a bad deal when they see one and cut and run, minimizing their losses.

I think that's what effective sales training can do for a team. We can't teach them to get better cards, but we can help our people play the cards they get just a little better, giving them a competitive edge. It amounts to an unfair advantage over our competitors.

If you would like to develop an unfair advantage, please call me at (408) 978-6000 to discuss a sales training package for your team.

HI TECH -- HI TOUCH

By Hank Trisler

John Nesbitt, in his ground-breaking, but old book Megatrends put forth the idea that as technology advanced and caused us to become more separated from one another, the need for courtesy and caring would be ever more important. What John feared most has come upon us.

A prime example of alienation would be Twitter, where we not only cannot see one another, our ability to converse with one another is restricted to 140 characters. This makes communication real tough.

A couple of days ago a very nice man posted something odd on Twitter. He said that thanking someone for a retweet was the same as spam and if someone did that to him, he would unfollow them. I've watched this fellow's tweets for a few months and find him to be a thoughtful, articulate and considerate individual. Why, then, would he engage in such boorish behavior? In subsequent tweets he explained that it was merely the pressure of time. He had built his following to the point that he had 500 retweets a DAY. If he thanked all those people, there would be no time for other business. Oh, there were other reasons, but the central issue was he was just too busy to be polite.

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON. There be demons out yonder. People tend to repeat those acts which are appreciated and ignore those acts which are not. If I retweet you a couple of times and you fail to mention it, I'll find other things to do with my time. My response to discourteous behavior, is to avoid the offending party and I'm not alone in this regard. If someone does something nice for you, you thank them. It's just good, common sense and courtesy.

A very bright lady with the moniker of @mediaphyter tweeted this morning that someone who had guested on her blog had sent her a HAND-WRITTEN thank you note. She was very favorably impressed, as well she might be. Hand-written notes are as frequently encountered as buggy whips. The higher postage prices go and the more ubiquitous electronic communication becomes, the more rare the hand-written note is. If you send notes to people who do things for you, you will stand out from the crowd.

In this increasingly competitive marketplace, I'm going to suggest you can gain a substantial advantage over your competition by merely being grateful and expressing that gratitude at every opportunity.