I’m going to tell you the worst sales experience I ever had…
And I’m telling you, it’s a good one – the complete opposite of a good sales call!
In the 70s and 80s I was broker-than-broke but by the early 90s I was hustling a good living flipping properties, buying with no money down…
At that time I also had a collision shop – I’d fix up beater cars and sell them.
So I’m buying this piece of property to flip and it’s a big piece of property that I got a great deal on…
First let me say, some salespeople are very systematic and I love that. I’ve had top salespeople follow the same method, same script every time, and that’s amazing…
And then there are other salespeople who are very intuitive. They sell through their heart and their soul…
That’s how I did it back then and I used to outsell my dad four-to-one. He was the more systematic one 😉
I figured my from-the-heart sales approach would work with real estate too!
About that time I really wanted this gorgeous piece of property on the Hudson River in upstate New York…
It was kind of surrounded with no easy access so nobody would buy it. I got it at a great price but I knew I needed this other house to put in an access drive…
Got the picture?
And this other house was on the market for a while…
Knowing the asking price was $100,000 I called and I’m like, “Hey, I know you’ve had your house up for sale a while and I’d really love to buy it. I’ll give you 90 grand for it. Get back to me.”
But I heard nothing.
About two days later, I called back and said, “Hey man, I didn’t hear from you… Let’s make it 95 grand – and I can close in 30 days. Let’s get it done.”
Four days later… nothing… and my desperation was BUILDING…
I call him like, “Man, your silence got to me. Okay, I’ll beat your ask and give you 105. Let’s close this deal. You know I need it. I can’t lie. Give me a call!”
Two days later, the guy calls me back and he’s laughing hysterically…
He goes, “Dude, I was on vacation with my family…”
“You just cost yourself 15 grand – and I didn’t have to say a single word!”
That was my worst sales mistake – DESPERATION!
And what an incredible lesson it was 😉
Maybe you’ve learned an invaluable lesson like this? I’d love to hear about it!
