<H1 BIG>ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS THIEVES?</H1>

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.