Boe Knows Sales

From Allen O’Shields…

One of the things brought out about my friend, Boe, at his funeral was that he was the ultimate salesman.  He loved to sell.  He owned 4 shoe stores. Here is a brief version of a story that was told by a banker friend of his.

After I first met Boe 30 years ago, I stopped by his shoe store to buy a pair of shoes.  I told him what I wanted, he said he had them, and he went to the storage room to get them.  He came back with 5 boxes of shoes!  I ended up buying the ones I came in for and another pair!  I later realized that if I wanted to get out of there with one pair, I would have to go when Boe wasn’t there.  What I found is that all his staff did the same thing.  I always ended up buying more than I intended.  Finally I thought I had him beaten.  My son was working for him in the summer.  Boe was teaching him about work life and work ethic and selling.  Rather than go to the store I told my son to bring me back a specific brand of shoe in a specific style, size, and color and I would give him a check to take back to the store to pay for them.  My son came in with 5 boxes of shoes!  I bought 2 pair plus the ones that I asked him for!

Now—how can we apply that in our world?