Topical Guide 378
Mark Dorset
Selling (“Salesmanship): Techniques
“I finished some pieces anyway,” said Lorna, “but they weren’t very good, and while I was working I began to see that there was another problem. I wasn’t going to be able to bring myself to sell them. My face would get flushed and my hands would start shaking whenever I even imagined selling them. Where on earth would I find people to buy them? Not ‘people.’ Women. It would have to be women. Can you imagine me showing them to men? What would I say? How would I bring it up? ‘Excuse me, would you like to buy a charm that shows a man thrusting his penis into a woman’s—’ ”
“Shhh!” said May. She looked around quickly. “My dear,” she said, “it’s good you didn’t have another Manhattan.”
Lorna giggled and colored. “I did have an idea, though. Suppose I made some other charms, simple things, horses or dogs. I could advertise those. Suppose someone called me and said, ‘I’d like to see your charms — ’ ”
May snorted.
“All right, all right. I might take a box full of charms to a woman’s house. I’d begin taking them out of the box, putting each on a piece of velvet to display it. A couple of horses, a dog, and — ‘Ooops! How did that get in there? Oh, no, no, you wouldn’t be interested in that — that’s something I did for — well — it’s a special order. Well, I suppose there’s no harm in letting you see it. I have to admit that the workmanship is really very good, if I do say so myself.’ ”
“Well done!” said May. She clapped her hands.Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 17
So, independently, Lorna has developed, at least as a thought experiment, the same sales technique that Herb’s Uncle Ben developed. Technically speaking, what exactly is that technique? After extensive consultation with Wikipedia, I’ve decided that it is a hybrid of several simpler techniques: Social Selling, Bait and Switch, Cross-Selling, and Upselling. According to Wikipedia,
Social Selling is the process of developing relationships as part of the sales process.
Bait-and-Switch encourages purchases of substituted goods rather than the initially offered goods.
Cross-Selling involves the selling of an additional product or service to an existing customer … either to increase the income derived from the client or to protect the relationship with the client.
Upselling is trying to motivate customers to purchase a higher-end product, an upgrade, or an additional item in order to make a more profitable sale.
See also: Salesmanship TG 75; Salesmanship; Persuasion, The Art of: Appeal to Ego or Pride TG 77
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed.
You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of “My Mother Takes a Tumble,” “Do Clams Bite?,” “Life on the Bolotomy,” “The Static of the Spheres,” “The Fox and the Clam,” “The Girl with the White Fur Muff,” “Take the Long Way Home,” “Call Me Larry,” and “The Young Tars,” the nine novellas in Little Follies, and Little Follies itself, which will give you all the novellas in one handy package.
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document) and at Encyclopedia.com.