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Put the Hammer Down
Put the hammer down, and then put it in the drawer.
I write often about how our industry has evolved and still I am amazed at how some things are still archaic.
Many industries and companies have grown from inauspicious roots. Being from Massachusetts, we often hear of
how Joseph Kennedy started a dynasty through bootlegging. The garment industry is still trying to shed its image
of sweatshops and inhumane treatment of workers. Our industry literally grew from dirt. Most of the original timeshare
salespeople sold plots of land in the seventies. These colorful characters that wore black shirts with white ties
and dripping in gold, found a new home in timesharing.
Some of these salespeople brought a natural talent for sales and succeeded in weighing themselves down with more
gold. These people used high-pressure techniques and they worked. They used more closes than Disney has black ears.
I once read that to be a master closer a salesperson should have a minimum of one hundred closes. I probably know
at least that many, but always believed that if you had one that worked more often than not, I would consider you
a master salesperson. I think of some of the closes I have been taught and chuckle a bit and hope no one uses them
anymore. Here is a test, it is called the "down the aisle" close:
You are in a typical situation, where the wife wants to buy and the husband is not going to budge. First you
ask the husband how long has he been married? He answers twenty years. Then you say to the husband "May I
ask you a question?" He will say yes. "When you were married twenty years ago and your wife looked so
wonderful walking down the aisle to join you and if then she whispered in your ear, all I want is two weeks of
timesharing-- on that day would you have bought them for her?" He will say yes. You respond, "Well it's
twenty years later and we are just asking for one week. Don't you love her half as much?" (You may have to
duck a punch every once in a while.)
Now here comes the test, if you laughed and thought who would ever use that, then good. If you chuckled and
thought I know people who would use that, then you are in a large crowd still in the industry. If you took notes
and thought this would be good to use on the table tomorrow, you may have a problem. Working with a class organization
like Marriott, I thought these techniques were extinct. Coming out of that shelter I have found these sales dinosaurs
are alive and sometimes well, until cancellation rates or FREC gets to them.
I recently saw someone use a watered down version of the prior close. The salesperson simply asked the husband
to take his wallet out and put it in his hand. Then he instructed him to put his wife's hand in the other. The
salesperson then asked, "Now which one is worth more to you?" Again, ducking may be required.
All industries need to evolve to grow. If this is the case, why would you use these high-pressure techniques when
other companies have shown us better results through ethical sales practices? The hammer is a symbol of using extreme
closes on preview guests. Every industry has its version of a hammer, literally or figuratively. I remember as
a child, that my father owned a bicycle shop and he affectionately referred to his hammer as a "speed wrench".
In other words, if the bolt was rusted on it might take a hammer to remove it. Not a great idea for high performance
bicycles. Even the ultimate hammer user, a carpenter, has evolved. To build a house the builder uses an air gun.
The deck builder uses speed screws and the furniture builder uses dovetails or dowels to build quality furniture.
If these prolific users of the hammer can find better alternatives, why are we still using our old fashioned hammer?
The Soviet Union even lost its hammer, along with its sickle.
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