- July 20, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Tom Schaff, Sales Development Expert in St. Louis, related a very funny story about events before and after the MLB All-Star Game. Here is Tom’s story:
At Fan Fest, Taco Bell gave away enormous taco head hats to promote Volcano Tacos…but they didn’t have very many. We were the first ones there and each of my kids got one. All day, people were asking where we got those hats.
“The day comes to an end and we were walking back to the rain-delayed Futures game and a guy offers my 7 year old $10 for his hat…”
“No way”, Aaron said.
“How about $20?”
“Not a chance”, he said.
“$40?”
“I like this hat, Mister.”
“Kid, money is no object, I have lots of money…”(he opened up his wallet with hundreds).
Aaron looks at him, says “Mister, I got that hat for free, if you want to pay $100 I’ll take it.”
The guy paid him and says “Kid, you’re going to grow up and be in sales”
So Aaron walked around the corner, only to see a guy walking down the street with 5 of the exact same hats in his hand and called, “Hey Mister, if any of those hats are extra, can I have one?”
He had a hat, then sold the hat for $100, and then got the hat back minutes later for free!
Thanks for sharing your story Tom! It’s both natural and accidental when a seven-year-old gets the deal he wants and on his terms. Now if the grown-ups could just be more like the seven-year-olds they would sell a lot more effectively and a lot more consistently! It was simply a case of not appearing to be too anxious, a willingness to walk away, and a tremendous understanding of value.
Here is testament to the fact that Tom is bringing up a balanced kid who understands the importance of giving back:
Aaron woke up the next day and said, “I’m giving $10 of the $100 to God and $45 to Alex (his brother) because I was lucky he picked my hat, not his.”
While Tom was at Fan Fest, he was interviewed and subsequently a guest on the MLB Network with Hazel Mae and Harold Reynolds. Here is the surprising clip:
