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26 July 2011
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Steve's Success at Selling Rolex Watches
My friend Steve is an incredible salesman - he can sell anything from watches to laptops to souvenir towel sets. He's good because he LACKS all the slick sales techniques you might expect him to have. He's just honest and upfront, and I don't mean the fake kind of sincerity you sometimes see salespeople try to put on.
One example (and I was a first-hand witness to this): he was attempting to sell Rolex watches to a group of tourists who had entered the Rolex shop he was working in at the time in London. Now, on hearing the odd "omishiroii desu ne!" and "utsukushii desu ne!" my friend realised the tourists were from Japan. Steve wasted no time and shouted "irashaimasse!" ("welcome!") to them as a kind of friendly joke. They all laughed, and that broke the ice immediately. Of course, they asked him (in Japanese) if he'd been to Japan. Steve replied that he had - he'd spent three years there selling the same watches he was selling in this shop. A reply (in English) from one of the Japanese tourists: "so...you have not sold them yet?". Steve could only laugh - and the others joined in. It was a dry joke, and a good one. The atmosphere was very friendly, and jokes were exchanged. I was waiting for some kind of sales message from Steve, but none was forthcoming. It almost seemed like he'd forgotten his job was to sell watches.
In the end, the Japanese tourist who spoke English said "OK, before we go, I think I should buy one since you are still waiting for your first sale after three years!". Steve bowed and said "arigatou gozaimasu". A sale was made, and Steve hadn't even tried to sell the watches in the twenty minutes of friendly discussion and jokes. That's why Steve is a great salesman.
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