The latest “People Who Read People” episode is an interview with two people who’ve both had success in door-to-door sales:
- Conrad Smith, lawyer and founder of marketing firm LeaderShield: He talks to us about his experience being a leading door-to-door salesperson of a well-known home security system. Conrad’s Twitter is here.
- Dave Mock, former poker dealer and current professional poker player: He talks to us about his experience doing door-to-door sales and sales management for a large home remodeling company. Dave’s Twitter is here.
Links to the episode:
Some topics discussed:
- Details about verbal and physical sales scripts that large companies use, and why they work
- How even the way a salesperson knocks on the door can be a factor in a sale
- The use of ambiguous language (example: “Did your realtor tell you I might be stopping by today?”) to subtly deceive
- The use of a fake personal anecdote to subtly deceive
- The importance of getting a customer to physically sign a document
- How the mere act of spending time with a salesperson, or offering food/drink, can increase the chances a sale is made
These back-to-back interviews perhaps will have an extra level of interest for some in that the two salespeople have different approaches/philosophies. Conrad talks about the importance of establishing status/credibility, which is a popular concept that takes the stance that it’s more important to establish the “frame” and control the conversation than to be “liked.” Whereas Dave comes from the more traditional sales school of thought that it’s important to be friendly and get the potential customer to like you. So in that sense, it’s kind of interesting to see how sales philosophies can vary.
In this episode some studies and books are mentioned. Here are some links related to that:
- Zeigarnik effect
- Great book “Influence,” by Robert Cialdini
- 1955 Deutsch-Gerard study where people were committed to their opinions because they wrote them down