Soup-er Sale

»You can close some very large sales in the most unexpected places and at the most unexpected times. The largest, single sales transaction I’ve had in my career is $100,000, and it happened over a bowl of soup with a client in a Manhattan diner.

My client was a commercial printer who wanted to sponsor an industry event that our magazine was hosting at an exclusive New York City hotel. The attendees would be the most famous authors of the major publishing houses, their editors and agents. It was a natural fit for this client. After all, they published many of these authors’ books and they wanted the exposure of star power.

But the sponsorship amount was very high and the date of the function was getting very close. In fact, we hadn’t set an official sponsorship amount since this was a first-time event. There was a lot of pressure being leveled on the sales staff. When I heard that my client would be in town, we spoke in advance about the event and I did all the preparation necessary at that time prior to our meeting to showcase what the event was and how it would benefit them. I thought they were interested—but not that interested.

When the time came to meet with the client, I asked my publisher if he would be able to join us, but he could not go. However, it was he who suggested that I take them to the diner and have a bowl of chicken noodle soup. We ate our lunch and then out of the blue, my client asked: “How much will it really take to put on this event the right way?” I immediately and calmly said, “$100,000.” To that, my client said: “OK, we’ll do it.” There was no more discussion about it the rest of day.

Sometimes salespeople sweat it out. But even in a down economy, a big sale can be oh, so sweet. And it doesn’t have to seem difficult if it’s done the right way.

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