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What My Kids and Walmart Taught Me About Sales

Posted on 09. Feb, 2011 by Lisa Trosien in Marketing

Several years ago, I had the honor of speaking at an industry conference held at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas. It’s a great hotel and if you ever get the chance to stay there, take it. After three nights I was not only in love with the hotel, but I was big time in love with…my pillows. Yes, I loved my Wynn feather pillows. They were amazingly soft, yet they were firm when they needed to be and they were simply perfect. I had to have them. I needed those pillows. So I headed to the Wynn Store for the Home on my last day at the hotel, determined to buy 2 of these amazing cloud-like miracles, aka. Wynn bed pillows.

Arriving at the store, I found the salesperson and told her what I wanted. Two Wynn feather pillows. Total price, plus shipping, approximately $150. For pillows. And naturally, I bought them. I didn’t even hesitate at the price, I was so enamored of them.

Why? Because I had convinced myself that I needed them. I justified the purchase: I’d tried them out for three nights and I loved them. They were wonderful! So, the price became secondary. I put it all down to the need for great sleep.

Now, if you’ve got kids, you’ve heard this line many a time from them: “But, I need it”. And you know darn well they really just want it, right? And I continually ask my daughters, “Do you really need it or do you just want it?” I’ve spent years trying to teach them the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’. But clearly, I could use the ‘need’ excuse when I wanted to justify something.

Fast forward to this past holiday season. We were out of town and I needed a pillow. I actually did NEED a pillow. With only a Walmart to be found, I ran in and grabbed what seemed to be the most comfortable pillow I could find. Took it back to the place I was staying and slept on it. Slept better than I had ever slept on my $150 Wynn pillows.

Total cost for the Walmart pillow? On sale, before tax, $2. I’ve since returned to Walmart and bought three more for other members of my family who were in need of new pillows. And this made me start thinking: Maybe even ‘grownups’ don’t know the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’.

Next time your with a prospect – whether your a property management professional or a property management vendor and the customer says they need it, maybe it’s a little like the Wynn pillow. They just think they need it, and maybe a Walmart pillow will fulfill their needs even better.

Don’t be put off by the ‘need’ of the customer that you don’t think you can fulfill. Dig a little deeper, question a little more thoroughly and you may just get the sale after all.

Tags: Marketing