The Street-Smart Salesman: How Growing Up Poor Helped Make Me Rich

Chapter 11

Abandon Hope!

Expectation is the root of all heartache.

—William Shakespeare

 

In East Harlem, hope, with an implied capital H, was a major coin of the realm. Everybody was selling it: politicians, priests, wiseguys, dealers, do-gooders, everybody. But you can't, of course, eat Hope for dinner or use it to pay bills. I never put much stock in Hope because my survival was so obviously at stake every day. Instead, I was alert to opportunities and dismissive of promises.

I once asked one of my reps why he was spending several hours a week conducting staff education seminars for a prospect without any commitment to buy our products. His answer, in essence, was that he hoped his selflessness and generosity would move the prospect to do business with him.

He hoped. He didn't believe; he didn't trust; he didn't know. He hoped. Hear me now: Hope is the enemy of success in sales! When a customer suggests that if you help him by providing something for free he will use your products at some time in the future, don't consider it any kind of victory. He's yanking your chain, making hollow promises in exchange for getting something out of you for free in the here and now. He's a better salesperson than you.

Here's what a hollow promise sounds like: “Come back and see me when you have the upgrade,” or, “Looks good—I'll call you after my committee meeting.” Do you—dare you—hope that this customer means what he says? Not if you're a Street-Smart salesman.

If a customer is trying to ...