What Is Your Sales System?

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Kenneth Brown

October 9, 2008

I did not aspire to become a professional sales person. It wasn’t a life long dream. As a youngster, I wanted to be a police officer, chef, farmer, professional football or baseball player. I really didn’t realize that people could make a living by selling a product or service.

Sure, I was a successful paperboy in Detroit, Michigan. I won many contests and earned lots of prizes: televisions, bikes, radios and cash. I had the biggest route in my district. I never realized that I was in sales, but I was. I was successful because I was good at selling newspapers.

My paper route consisted of just two streets with five or six large apartment building. Each building had three to five floors. Every floor had at least 10 apartments. It was a great opportunity for an ambitious boy. But no other paperboy wanted this route. There weren’t a lot of customers. Paperboys would often quit and customers weren’t happy with the service.

Conservatively, there were potentially more than 300 customers on my first street and about 150 on the second street. I built this route to more than 200 daily and 300 weekend deliveries. I actually hired a couple of assistants to help me. I could not use the standard red wagon for my route. I delivered my newspapers from a shopping cart. It was the only way to finish my deliveries.

I seized the opportunity.

How did I do it? I would talk to everyone on my route. I was friendly, courteous and always smiling. These were potential customers. Every two months, I would go door to door and ask every person to buy a newspaper from me. I was asking for the sale. It was a numbers game.

I would practice my sales pitch before going out. Looking in the bathroom mirror, I would flash a smile and say, “Hello, my name is Kenny. Would you like to subscribe to the Detroit News?”& amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; #160; I offered a free newspaper to every new customer. I was selling and asking for the sale. I heard “Yes,” I heard, “No” and I heard, “Call or come back later.”  Happily, I did. I was making good money.

And I made collections fun. I would run up and down the stairs and see if how fast I could finish each apartment building. I would time myself and I found it to be a good work out. I collected my payments and asked for referrals from satisfied customers on Fridays and Saturdays.

Unconsciously, I created my own successful sales system.

I knew my product and my target market. I created an efficient and effective sales, prospecting, delivery system and collection system.  I asked for the business, generated new sales and earned referral business. At 12 years old, I created a sales strategy and a system that worked for me. 

I didn’t have business experience, training or education. But I was still a success. I had a passion and I was determined to be successful because my mother needed and depended upon me to make money. My responsibility was to pay for the household groceries.

This was my sales system and my motivation.

So let me ask: What is your system? You are the expert in your business. How would you describe your system for creating successful sales, and what are your steps to making a sale?

If you’re not sure, maybe it’s time to get back to your fundamentals.

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