Name : Michelle grasia

Class : 10A5

Number : 25

I talked to my dad the other day, he told me that someone was coming over the next
day to clean his ducts. Though this kind of talk is typical, it was a highly unusual topic for me
to be discussing with my dad. This is his first summer in his new house. So, he decided to
change the filter. “It was filthy,” he said. “I don’t think the people who lived here before ever
changed it, that’s how bad it was! ”He went on to say that if they weren’t changing the filter,
he didn’t think they were cleaning out the ducts, either, which is why he made the
appointment. I laughed, and he asked me why. I told him that it blew my mind that he even
knew what ducts were and that they needed to be cleaned. “There’s a lot you don’t know
about me,” he said.

A lot of technicians who showed up to his house could have taken one look at my dad
and thought, “There’s no way this old man is going to buy anything else from me, I need to
get in and get out, so I can move on to my next call”. I’ve been there before, kind of. When I
worked at Target, we had sales goals. Oftentimes, I didn’t pitch the sale to certain customers
because I decided that based on their outfit, or their facial expression, they wouldn’t buy it, so
I didn’t want to waste my time. But I was wrong enough times that I learned an important
lesson: You have to ask EVERYBODY. Another lesson I learned was that if someone blows
your mind once, they will probably do it again, if you let them. When I had customers at
Target who surprised me, I often found that I could engage them in other sales, too. The more
I offered, the more I seemed to sell.

The tech who showed up to the house was probably just as surprised as I was that my
dad was getting the ducts cleaned. But he saw this appointment as an opportunity, not a waste
of time. He talked to my dad, found things out about him and the house. Because he spent
just a few minutes with my dad, he was able to add on additional products and services. That
tech turned a $350 duct cleaning job into a $2.000 solution job. He asked a couple of
questions that allowed him to identify the major problems with the house. Then, he offered a
couple of solutions. And that was all it took to quadruple his sales. This is not to say that it
will work every time. There are a lot of people who will say no. That’s OK as long as you let
them actually say no, and you just don’t assume it for them. As technology advances and
price points increase, it’s sometimes painful to even try and sell. But, the rejection of all those
no’s disappears with just one yes. If you don’t ask every single person, though, you might
miss your opportunity.