Weekly Sales Tips: Lessons from My First Sales Job

Do you remember your first sales job? What was the number one lesson that you learned in your first sales job? Your weekly sales tip is about a lesson that came from a very unexpected place.

I was 16 years old when I had my first sales job. It’s not the type of sales job that you would expect, but I learned a lot. I wasn’t working in a department store or selling subscriptions door to door. That sales job took place while I was working for Kentucky Fried Chicken. That’s right, KFC.

Now, you may not think of it as a sales job, and I didn’t either. But after I started, I was told that one of the important steps in the process was to upsell. When a customer ordered something, we had to try convincing them to order something else above and beyond. KFC would send out mystery shoppers to see if we were actually upselling. These people would evaluate how we were doing and it was very important to the store to receive good ratings for the managers.

I was highly resistant to the idea. I looked at it and said, if somebody wants an ear of extra corn on the cob, they’ll just ask for it. You’ve heard this before and you still hear it today when you order food. Would you like fries with that?

I was very resistant. I knew how I felt in those situations. I’d go to a drive-thru window, I’d pull up, I roll down my window, and immediately, they are asking if I’d like to try something. To which I’m thinking, would you just stop this spiel so I can order what I really want to order?

I was pretty adamant about this. So this is the way that I always approached it when I was highly resistant to the idea of selling anything at all until I heard Jill working the front register and upselling. Jill was just some 16-17-year-old kid with an acne problem who was doing the same job that I was doing.

However, Jill had mastered the skills of upselling. For example, she takes an order from a guy, at the end of the order this is what she says, “I have to tell you, the strawberry shortcake little bucket parfaits are really, really good and they’re only $0.99. Do you want one?” Not only did she says these words but she was excited while doing it. She seemed genuinely passionate about this Strawberry Shortcake, little bucket parfaits, I mean, she was really into it.

I’m not going to lie. I love a good parfait. The little bucket parfaits were a huge hit for a long time until they went away in 2012. In fact, there have been campaigns online attempting to get the little bucket parfaits back in the stores.

Here’s Jill saying they’re really, really good and they’re only $0.99. Do you want one? This guy looks back at her and says, “$0.99? Yeah, sure I’ll take four.” That sounds like an insignificant example but I assure you it was not because it wasn’t simply about the little bucket parfait.

It was about the concept called Emotional Endorsement. This was a huge takeaway from my first sales job and I’ve held on to it ever since. What happened here? It wasn’t just that Jill was asking him, no, it was the endorsement. They’re really, really good, or they’re only $0.99. The emotion behind the words was critical. Let me give you another example of this.

I’m shopping at Nordstrom for a tie. I pulled out a couple of ties and I was laying them down over a shirt. This gentleman walks up to me in his suit. He’s got the Nordstrom nametag, and he says, “Oh, I own that tie. I have to say, I probably wear that tie more than any other tie in my closet. I love it.”

I turn to see how he’s dressed. If he’s dressed like a bozo, I’m probably not interested in his opinion. But this guy looks sharp, he looks fashionable, he looks like he knows what he’s talking about. But it wasn’t just that he liked the tie or even that he bought the tie. It was his emotional endorsement of the tie.

I want to suggest to you, for what it is you’re doing, if your customer trusts you and you like the product and you share that emotional endorsement, then the customer is very likely to buy off on that. Here’s my challenge for you. Would I buy something from you just based on your emotional endorsement?

Let’s assume I had the need, but still, would I buy something from you based on your emotional endorsement? You can use that emotional endorsement for whatever it is you sell. You can use it to introduce a team member, talk about your warranty, or anything that provides value. It’s going to benefit from your emotional endorsement.

This is a great opportunity for you to evoke that emotion that your customer is going to purchase with anyway. Until next time, my friends learn more to earn more.