Having had problems with being lazy and sitting around one place all the time(perks of being a freelancer), I decided to start becoming more active and going for jogs/walks/tai chi, what ever makes me more active. In this quest, I started developing sore feet & blisters, thanks to pavements which are still under construction, owning to a wonderful state government, will do that to you, – the doctor said I should probably change my shoes. So I did!

This is not about my sores or blisters, this about how a sales man almost did sell me a shoe costing approximate $150 – The only thing that stopped me was thinking about my bills still being left to be paid!

Around the weekend, I went to a local factory outlet for Nike, hoping to buy a good pair of export rejected shoes, which would be comfy and blister(s) free. I really had no other expectations, just a list of shops, one of which I would like to buy the shoe from, if I got the right fit.

As I entered the place, I saw this not so clever looking, drab, dull salesman asking me – “How may I help you sir!” – Sure enough it was the same thing, we all have heard over and again in all the up market shops. But to my surprise, this not so clever looking, drab and dull salesman, actually convinced me to part ways from my hard earned $$!

It started with,

: “What shoes are looking to buy sir?”

: “umm..running/walking shoes…”

: “I have some fabulous shoes starting from $90″

: “I cannot spend that much on shoes right now, got anything affordable in the range of $30 – $70 maybe?”

: “Sure I have, and having a look at what you are wearing right now, those shoes will be a little less comfortable.”

: [was wearing my work shoes - they have to be comfy] “Why don’t your try me and show me those”

: “Great, could you keep your foot on the measuring scale for me sir?”

: “Sure, with shoes without my shoes” [was just being coy]

: “Anything you would like to prefer sir, its just that if you put your feet on the measuring scale with your shoes on, I would have try harder in getting you your new pair”

: “Oh! got it! ”

No matter what questions I was throwing at him or how coy I was, he was always being positive, and the point being that he actually never once said anything close to the negatives – “no”, “never”, “not available”, “don’t” – none of these were even heard by me or other customers around once!

I learned my first lesson about sales: All your sale pitches, should tend towards the positive, never use never and other negative words during your pitch, it creates an impact, trust me. All your sales should be B+ Sales! That doesn’t mean you lie or cover up, it just means you do not use negativity.

I was so floored by his selling skills, I took some pictures!

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