A week ago I received a letter and a telephone call from a prospective vendor interested in selling me a service I had no interest in. Or so I thought.

I was prepared to pass on the offer with no further thought, when the vendor managed to get me on the phone way after business hours and to my surprise he made a pitch that intrigued me.

And then he did the unexpected. He said he wouldn’t have time in his schedule to take on my company, MSCO, for at least six months. He said he had heard about us, thought we might be interested and when there was time, perhaps we could work together.

But now I wanted to start immediately. I am not going to engage in dime
store psychology to figure out how he turned the tables on me, but he did. I was now on the hunt for the vendor.

Invisible Selling is at work here. Ask for business and the prospect recoils.
Present a powerful idea, minus an apparent sales pitch, and the prospect’s defenses never go up.

Just the opposite: they will likely seek to sell you.

I call this the Studio 54 approach. When that now infamous club opened its doors in NY, the owners arrogantly but ingeniously said “try to get in but we won’t let you. We will hand select an elite group of people from the would-be guests who show up at our doors.” Thousands flocked. The vast majority stood
out in the cold. The club was an enormous success.

The owners sold the gift of admittance by saying almost no one could get in.

Remember the power of Invisible Selling.

Mark Stevens

CEO

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I had dinner with a friend the other night. She is a matrimonial attorney.

She says her practice is booming.

Why?

Her perspective: people are increasingly unwilling to put up with imperfections in their mates.

She’s gained weight. I’m out of here.

He’s become less exciting. I’m out of here.

My friend hears this kind of complaint and reason for parting every day.

She’s not an exaggerator. I know her for years.

So it’s sounds like instant paydirt for her. But, when she hears the tales of woe and the reasons for moving on, she tries to put a halt to it. To get the party who reaches out to her to reconsider. To see if the relationship can be saved. To ask if there isn’t an alternative to the always easy to take step of simply moving on.

She asks these questions because she believes it is the right thing to do.

If people take her “try to save it” advice, she loses cases. She forgoes income. She risks potential clients going elsewhere.

But they don’t. And she loses nothing. In fact, she gains all of the cases and more. Because instead of selling with her bank account in mind, she advises using her heart and her brain as the drivers.

She isn’t selling in the traditional sense. But traditional salespeople always fall short of the mark. They are a dime a dozen and the harder they try, the more they lose.

Mark Stevens

CEO

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Just the other day I was walking through the lobby of the Hotel Bristol in Paris, bags in hand, scouting out a seat in the lounge bar.

A thoughtful member of the staff approached me, suggesting that a Bristol guest should not be carrying bags. Although I thanked him and assured him they were light and all was fine, he insisted on checking the items so that I could focus on a chilled glass of champagne.

He would not take “no” for an answer. And with the seat on the suede sofa beckoning, I happily conceded. My bags were whisked away, I slipped into Parisian happy hour and it was all as close to perfect as you can get. Think about it:

• This staff member took what others could easily view as not his concern and owned it.
• A grand hotel, a reigning member of the Parisian elite, takes responsibility for the comfort of each guest as if we are family members.
• The rule book doesn’t tell the staff all the things they should do to exceed guest expectations. They do EVERYTHING to accomplish that.
• No one is too important to serve as a bellman.
• No one is too busy to perform “menial” tasks. At the Bristol- and the special class of businesses that don’t talk service, they live it - nothing is considered “menial.”

The staff member who went out of his way to take my bags deserved recognition from the boss. I brought that suggestion to the front desk. It was then that I learned the staff member was the boss. The Bristol’s general manager.

What he did is a sure sign of a true leader. One who inspires every employee to raise the bar. To go beyond. To create the kind of goodwill and loyalty you can’t win with gimmicks, offers, sales or points.
Mark Stevens

CEO

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I have watched the show. I like it.

Especially the female star. Not because she is a female. (although that’s a big part of it). But mostly because she knows the secret: there is no King Of Queens.

I grew up there. Everyone has something to sell. Almost everyone is lying. You walk to elementary school. Someone is trying to con you into buying something. Remember, I said “con you.”

You get good at detecting that. Queens radar. The US military wants to rent it. For The US military I would give it for free. Everyone else, well I won’t even reveal how it works.

Anyway, I am straying, in part. Talking about selling. I learned to sell in Queens. On the streets. Defending myself and my family from the liars. From the frauds. From the thieves.

All wanted to sell us lies. Like the insurance company investigators who tried to sweet talk my lovely mother to show her my dad’s prescription records so they could take a miserable $5,000 life insurance policy from us. I parachuted in. They still don’t like me.

Anyway, liars and scum taught me how “not” to sell. Not to sell.

I am happy I met the plebes of Queens.

Sometimes you learn from the furthest thing from a role model.

There were no Kings of Queens. But the wonderful place was my Harvard. I still love it.

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The best way to learn how to sell something is to try to sell what can’t be sold.

You can’t sell love. You can’t buy it either. You can purchase an impostor but not the real thing.

So let’s return to the impossible. Selling love. If the person you are trying to sell it to doesn’t love you in return, no sale can be consummated. Case closed. Dead end. Waste of time.

The same is true of a product or service in your bag that people, or even a single prospect, has no interest in. The Willy Loman school of selling, the Harvard Business School of selling, advises that you find a way to make the sale anyway. Cut the price. Develop a killer elevator speech. Scare the person to the point that they think they can’t live without it.

And what happens? You look like a carnival hawker. You cheapen yourself. You try too hard. You go through all manner of machinations to buy something people simply don’t want. Go away. Leave me alone. That’s how they feel.

Sometimes you have to listen to the market. They just don’t want what you are selling. If you study this, think about it, analyze it, you will learn something. You will learn “Why,”

Why you can’t sell love. Why you can’t sell anyone what they truly don’t want no matter how generous your intentions may be. And in the process you will learn what it is they do want or would be receptive to and how to make a success based on that reality.

You learn about selling by not selling and you learn that the best salespeople never look like they are selling anything.

Mark Stevens

CEO

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The worst way to sell anyone anything is to put a pollster in front of you, identify what they tell you people want and then seek to give it to them.

Precisely the way it is done in American politics. And exactly the way to leave the people wishing there was more than an echo in the room.

Great salespeople recognize the power of giving people not what they want, but what they never even thought they could expect.

Just the other day, an MSCO team member went to a mobile phone store to buy a new phone. The salesman could have simply given her the phone of the week, as advertised in the newspaper and online.

But he went light years further. He asked her how she uses it when driving.

He asked. He brought it up. He went beyond the confines of a standard transaction.

He discovered, as I think he suspected, that she was relying on dated technology to drive and talk. To rectify that, he recommended that he install a hands-free Blue-Tooth powered set up operated through her steering wheel.

Nothing revolutionary in the global scheme of things, but far more than she dreamed of when she set out to visit the store. He surprised her. He delighted her. He was not acting as a salesperson. He was serving as an expert and a friend.

Had he simply sold her a phone she would have told no one. Because he provided her with something that changes her daily life for the better, she refers everyone to him.

She is now his own marketing machine. She is a customer for life.

Mark Stevens

CEO

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Everyone wants to win new customers and clients. Nothing special or heroic about that. The hunt is exhilarating and the catch is pure joy. Succeed at it often and the business flourishes.

Or does it? There is another component to this equation we can easily overlook.

What do we do when we lose customers or clients? Do we even know when we have lost them? Do we chalk it up to their unreasonable demands and simply move on to other opportunities?

All too often, our response to the ones that got away pales in comparison to our lust for their ones we don’t yet have. This is not good business. We must treasure the customers and clients we have, discover why they would want to leave, and do everything possible, with class and finesse, to win them back.

Here too Invisible Selling comes into play.

About a year ago, I stopped shopping at a clothing retailer where I had been an addicted customer for years. No unpleasant experience had occurred. The buyer simply changed his merchandise selection and I was no longer enthralled by the selection.

Through its CRM system and attentive sales staff, the retailer recognized my defection and, in a major departure from the great mass of businesses, really cared about this and set out on a silent mission to win me back. When others would think Mark is just one of thousands of customers, this store said to itself, and then to me, Mark is indispensable. Not because he is Mark, but because he is a customer.

With this in mind, the salesperson sent me a hand written letter inviting me back, complete with a $200 gift certificate. When I failed to respond, she called, not to complain, but to ask if I would stop in for a personal catch up and a cup of coffee.

As we talked on the phone, the conversation turned to the fact that I was no longer happy with the store’s merchandise selection.

“You know we want to do everything to please you Mark. What would you have us stock that would bring you back?”

I mentioned a clothing designer whose shirts I favor and then we went on to talk about family and mutual friends. I made no promise to return to the store and I was not asked to.

And then within a week I received a package at my door with one of the shirts I like, beautifully wrapped, with a thoughtful card- all compliments of management.

I am a customer again. The one that got away was brought back through kindness and care. I wasn’t treated as one of thousands. I was treated as indispensable.

That is powerful. That is invisible.

Mark Stevens
CEO

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Imagine walking up to someone and asking him or her to buy something from you.

Happens every second. Nothing unusual about it at all.

But what if the person you asked to buy from you wanted, quite naturally, to see what you are offering. And you refused. Would your prospect still buy?

Happens every second. Nothing unusual about it all. Extraordinary and majestic yes, but not the least bit unusual.

Every time someone acts on the basis of faith, they are doing so without seeing the product. Every time someone starts a business with nothing but a dream, they are acting on the invisible. The same goes when you fall in love or listen to a soaring piece of music or conjure up a wonderful idea.

It’s all invisible and it’s all delicious and we can’t buy enough of it without seeing even a faint hint of it, because for the most part, the invisible is more powerful than the visible.

You love your children. Can you see that? You adore your close friends. Is that visible? You feel an aura around the lovers in your life. Can you put that under a microscope? You have exhilaration in your work. Can that be filmed?

No. No. No. No.

Well, maybe that’s not true. We do see these wonders, but with our hearts.

Close your eyes and the feeling only grows.

Think of the power of the invisible and how and why you should give yourself up to it.

It is a leap of faith. It is an act of love.

Mark Stevens

CEO

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Everyone moans that they hate to make cold calls. And why not? A cold call is made by a dead person who wants to buy anything from someone without a pulse.

Okay, I’m exaggerating, but just a bit. The classic definition of a cold call is an outreach to a stranger by a stranger. The stranger trying to sell something is armed with a telephone script and a product or service they want you to buy because…well…because they want to collect the commission.
But hold it a minute. Never use the words cold call again. Would you go on a cold date? Would you invite someone to a cold lunch? Of course not.
If you are going to place a call to someone you have never spoken with before, remember you do or should know something about him or her. Even if you are calling from a list, it is a list that was selected for a reason. The people have young children or are of retirement age or have signaled an interest in buying a home.
So you know something. The would-be homeowners are excited but anxious and perhaps confused about their impending purchase. And what they want most of all is what every salesperson should always serve as: an Advisor and a Friend.
The dead person will make a cold call. The Advisor and Friend will demonstrate in the first few seconds of the conversation that you have knowledge that can take the fear and intimidation out of the purchase.
That’s a warm call. That’s the only kind you should make.

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There is no force in the world more powerful than God. Even atheists know it; it’s just that they won’t admit it.

So what do I mean by powerful? Billions of people do believe in God. Faith and belief in God brings serenity to them. Most of our laws, cultural values and morals are based on interpreting God’s views of right and wrong. God has exercised all of this power without utilizing the standard- issue tools and tricks of salesmanship. With God, and the great religions that stand for Him, faith is created and enforced through wonderful and enduring principles of commitment, honesty, loyalty, passion, and courage. The question is, why does this magnificence stay, in too many cases, trapped in houses of worship? Why don’t people-as corporate managers, as parents, as friends-live the principles they recite in houses of the Lord?

For some reason, over time, a bifurcation has occurred. The principles of religion, of spirituality, are set aside for the day of worship. The holidays of worship. All the rest can be a free for all. Nothing disrespects God and religion more than this. The fact is, religion is meant to be lived not simply read. It must be the bedrock of corporate and personal culture. We must fling open the doors of the houses of worship and bring the preachings to the store, the home and the office.

As a business person, you should not ask if your customers like your products or would recommend them to a friend. You should have the courage to inquire if they have faith in your company. In your people. In you. If the answer is yes, that’s not just good religion. It is extraordinary business.

Mark Stevens
CEO

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