Sales Is Like Flirting: Open The Kimono Just A Little, Then...

"Sales is like flirting: open the kimono just a little, then walk away. Let the ones who would, hanker for more." – Kim Klaver 1996

Do you agree with that?

What if you saw your initial customer approach as more like flirting than scoring – i.e. open the kimono just a little, then step back?

The right prospects don't need anything more than a peek at first – for anything. Isn't that true for you, too? It's thumbs up or down within seconds.

OK ladies, if you buy that, here's the big decision you have to make: If, upon hearing or seeing your initial "pitch" the prospective customer gives you that initial thumbs up or down, then…

Do you want to do therapy or run with the ones who respond?

The right prospects don't need anything more than your mini story to give it a thumbs up or down. They either want what you're enjoying, or they don't. And they want it enough to pay for it, like you do. Else, why bother yourself?"

This assumes of course that you and your kimono look and sound your best for that first moment of contact with the prospective customer…E.g.

"I market a product for someone who has achy knees going up the stairs and who doesn't want to do surgery or drugs, like the way I used to be. Do you know anyone who might like to know about a product like that?"

Versus,

"I market patented, unique, scientifically proven nutraceuticals! The company doctors say it's like new software for the human body that works at the cellular level, and…"

If you WERE going to respond, which would you want to know more about?

Spending your time getting ready for JUST the ones who give your thing a thumbs up is what Seth Godin said the other day. Only he said it about your website instead of your kimono:

"Fact: about half the visitors to your website leave after less than five seconds."

Then, he says, you get to choose how you will spend your time. Either: Turn those quickie visitors (browsers) into interested prospects (somehow) or

"ignore them and realize that you only get a chance to talk to the people who are going to stay for more than five seconds anyway. The rest of the population is ignoring you… don't let them distract you from your real mission, which is to amplify interest, not create it." See the original here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/02/wait.html

And anyway, how do you think it looks to keep begging someone for a tennis game when they've already said they don't play tennis?