“Selling is like life which is like selling.”

Bold — Yes, I know…. And oh so very exciting… (grinding teeth sound)

And so, when the vast editing team here at SalesBloggers.com decided to ask us to write about Sales Metaphors in the grand month of June, I had to resist the urge to throw throw them a snarl and a “What the heck are you talking about?”.

Instead, I meekly called the venerable Leanne Hoagland for her insights into the curious task.  She directed me to her post she had written a few days earlier.  (Which also made me a little angry because in the same sentence she referenced Greek words and Webster’s Dictionary).

So back to square one.  The editors want to hear my take on the subject and Leanne is way too freak’n brilliant for me to reference for the rest of this post. Kind of makes me look like a clueless schmuck.

So, what to do?

In typical “Dan” fashion this topic seem fitting for a mini-rant.  Especially when you try to get overly scientific about the idea of sales metaphors.

So, here it is.  Here is the biggest metaphor for selling:  LIFE…

Selling should be your life, because your life is selling.

• Life is complicated and unwieldy.
• You have wins and you have losses.
• Sometimes you work hard and you still fail.
• The most effort wins most of the time.

There is no better metaphor for selling then living.

There is a lot that is “gray” in selling.  Just don’t try to separate it from the rest of reality,

Selling is what you chose to do with your life.  It is your life.

So do it.  Embrace it.  “Be” it.

Live.  Love.  Sell…

P.S. Stop the nonsense.  Get serious about your success (and you might want to go read what a smart person had to say about sales metaphors)

In sales, the lack of active listening skills is a prerequisite for sales failure (inability to increase sales).  With so many salespersons believing that by talking they can “close the sales” with this potential customers (a.k.a. prospects), the opportunities for those who are great communicators are endless. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  If you are telling, you ain’t selling. David Herdlinger)

For example, how often have you said to yourself or heard others say “I thought they said no?” The key word here is thought.  The use of the word is really a presumption on the part of the salesperson.

One time I remember asking one of my sales coaching clients this question “Did your decision maker actually say No?”  The response was “Well, he did not use the No word, but I could tell he was saying no.”

Then I asked the obvious next question “How could you tell?”  Well, the response was “he did not say Yes.” Sales Training Coaching Tip: The word Yes has no emotional marketing value. Consequently, the only person who wants to hear Yes is You.

Great! A potential lost sale because the salesperson was looking for Yes and he did not clarify what was happening within the conversation.  Sales Training Coaching Tip: The word No in sales does not necessarily mean “I do not want to buy your products or services” unless of course your potential client actually tells you “I do not want to buy your products or services.”

How many times does our inability to clarify communication creates potential negative feedback and throw us off our selling game?  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  There is a definite relationship between effective communication, emotional intelligence (EQ) and sales success.

Recently, I gave a presentation on some quick tips to optimize a website so that small business owners would not be taken advantage by Internet marketing experts who are phonies and frauds preying on the lack of knowledge about search engine optimization (SEO).  After the presentation, I sent an email thank you to the group and suggested if they were interested to visit my blog on sales.

I receive the following email from one of the attendees:  “No, Thank You!”  Since this person had personally thanked me on the way out, I was genuinely confused by this response.  For me, the No along with exclamation suggested the opposite of what had transpired several hours earlier.  Instead of taking the No for No, I sent a proactive communication asking for clarification.

She replied with the following “You said ‘thank you’…I replied ‘No, thank You!’ ”   In other words, there was a pregnant pause between the No and the thank you.  Again, this could have been a case of “I thought they said No!”

When salespersons incorporate a proven sales process, this helps to separate the real No’s from the pretend or presumptive No’s.  In some cases, selling is attempted before marketing is completed.  When this happens, a No may mean not now because I do not know you well enough.  Sales Training Coaching Tip: The goal of marketing is two fold:

1. To make a friend
2. To be asked back for that coveted one on one appointment

In the selling phase of the sales process, there are many opportunities to uncover all of the potential Nos. This is called seeking or finding objections or obstacles.  Here you want to bring all reasons not to buy to the surface. Failure to do so may have you crashing your sales ship on the reef and keeping you away from landing on the sales beach. This may be another reason why you “thought they said No.”

Here are five quick tips to help you have CLEAR communications:

#1: Clarity – Listen for clarity to separate the tangible from the intangibles and the “knowns” from the unknowns.

#2: Legitimize – You must listen to legitimize the real issues. Many times perceived problems are symptoms in disguise.

#3: Emotions – You must listen for emotions. Here is where the verbal words and the non-verbal gestures along with the syntax (speed pitch, volume and emphasis) are very important.

#4: Agreement – You must listen for agreement to find common ground from which you can build ongoing trust.

#5: Retention: You must listen for retention because the information that you are receiving is critical to your sales success. In many cases, the facts that you are receiving have Bern heard by others, but they simply failed to listen. Active listening is all about truly hearing and then remembering what the other person has just said.

(Source: Be the Red Jacket in a Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales Success, page 60, published with permission)

If you have ever have experienced “I thought they said No,” then maybe you may need to reassess your communication skills and your overall sales process.  Remember “No” may mean not now and may also suggest you have failed in securing your marketing goal to make a friend.

Good, bad, or indifferent the minute you exchange money for ANY product you have now initiated some sort of relationship. It is the experience during and after this process that will really determine the quality of that relationship more than how good you were leading into it. Think of it like dating. Everyone expects you to be prompt in returning phone calls, polite, and going out of your way to please. The relationship is new and you are courting still. That’s why people freak out when you announce that you intend to marry the girl you just met 3 weeks ago. It’s a year later when you are comfortable, that the truth comes out, and you see if this is REALLY someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.

In business the same is true… We expect the sales guy to be great at building rapport, to have great customer service skills, and be knowledgeable about their products. The true test of talented sales people is what happens during and AFTER the close. Do you follow up 30, 60, 90, even 180 days later just to make sure things are going well? And if they are not; do you provide the same level or better of service you did when you were trying to earn that business? Do you send Christmas cards? Are you a valuable resource to them for industry information? These skills are what will keep your customers coming back to you over and over again… and they will send their friends because you are a trusted advisor and not just “some sales guy”

That brings us back to closing. The real trick in closing is to close without closing… instead of reading dozens of books on closing while trying to memorize The Puppy Dog Close, The George Washington Close, or saying “Mr. Prospect, if I could show you a way to have ABC and XYZ would that be of interest to you? Try switching your focus to building a partnership. Trust me… You are not fooling anyone with the new close you just learned. Buyers even go to classes to learn how to recognize and combat these tactics. It feels manipulative and dishonest to people.

People like to do business with people they genuinely like and trust. So my biggest tip in closing is to not do anything that will erode that. I think if you do a good job up front of building the relationship, setting expectations, and approaching things from a point of view that focuses on mutual benefit when it comes time to close you won’t have to close… you will just advance the relationship to the proverbial “Next Level”. That doesn’t mean you do not ask for the clients business… but it does mean you should do it in a way that is open, honest, and direct. If it is a good decision for them and everyone knows it, it should not be hard to do.

Finally don’t think in terms of transactions… If you sell houses, sell to me in a way that shows you want to sell me every house I ever buy… The same holds true if it is a car, jewelry, or even a pizza. Remember don’t TELL me. SHOW me.

For discussion: How can you implement this in your business right now and what net effect do you see it having on your current business? Do you think changing how you close will help you maintain or even increase your sales despite tough economic times?

]]> http://www.salesbloggers.com/2009/01/isn%e2%80%99t-closing-a-funny-name-for-it/feed/ 0 http://www.salesbloggers.com/2009/01/closing-is-for-quitters/ http://www.salesbloggers.com/2009/01/closing-is-for-quitters/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:01:19 +0000 Nesh Thompson http://www.salesbloggers.com/?p=700 An ever so slightly provocative title I know… but then if like me you are in the B2B arena then you might agree with it. The word ‘close’ is a negative word in whatever way you look at it. It belongs to a group of words that mean a causal finality that in the B2B world means an end of a process. Close is a destructive word. I close, I quit, I finish, I end, I stop, I bring to an end.

In B2B sales and also in some B2C environments the objective of the business is to obtain more than just a signed contract but a sustainable relationship that will provide over time a mutual benefit between client and vendor. The first sale can be considered the most important part of an initial step in defining a cycle of transactions therefore an initial ‘close’ of the first sale is far from being the last sales action but rather one of the first. Because of this and because B2B often binds companies together, commitment at the latter stage of the first sale isn’t necessarily the hardest part of the overall process. Time in developing excitement and need, mutual benefits and buy in from the necessary decision makers has usually been so well prepared that the natural conclusion of sending out a proposal, getting a signed contract and ‘closing’ the deal is more often than not a natural painless experience.

In B2C direct selling is sometimes very different. Limited time and opportunity means that some sales people have to try and persuade their prospects to buy. In this environment the word ‘close’ can also be negative. Too often I have seen in direct selling the attitude of the sales person change directly after closing a sale. Years ago I used to sell directly as a telesales operative who was incentivised to make more sales with generous commissions. I witnessed some truly amazing closing techniques from the top performing sales people some of which bordered on the immoral and at times aggressive. Pressure selling was all about doing all in your power to close the sale as quickly as possible. Sometimes those that were sold to were disappointed in what they were sold or angry because their expectations weren’t fulfilled or even recieved products completely different to what they thought they had bought. Why? Because the sales person’s responsibility ended when they closed the deal. Some even told me directly that they cared little for what happened after they put the phone down as long as they got their commission. Though this may be one of the negative stories that contributes to the overall demonisation of telesales in general it is unfortunate to say that this shedding of culpability isn’t isolated to telesales alone and have been witnessed in other direct sales channels as well. Those types of sales people close because they ARE quitters.

The truth, as ever, lies somewhere in between. We’ve learnt a lot about closing in the last 30 or so years. In the 70′s and 80′s “Always Be Closing” was the key mantra for salespeople, and everyone carried a much-read copy of Zig Ziglar’s “Secrets of Closing the Sale” in the glove compartment of their car ready for frequent reference.

But in the 90′s, Neil Rackham showed conclusively that trying to close too early and too frequently could severely damage your chances of making a sale – particularly for large sales. And in the last decade we’ve seen savvy customers becoming increasingly wise to assumptive closes, alternative closes, Ben Franklin closes and other techniques. When they hear a “closing technique” being used they feel manipulated and instantly put the barriers up and become harder to sell to.

Over time we’ve learnt that successful closing is the culmination of an effective sales process – not a technique tacked on at the end.

That being said, we still need to close. At the end of the sales process we need to ask for the business. During the process we need to gain commitment from our prospect to the next stage in the process – the next sales meeting where she brings along her manager, a trial of the product, a meeting with one of our expert consultants to analyse their manufacturing operations to identify the savings our lean manufacturing process could bring.

So, given that closing is becoming more difficult – yet is still vital to selling – how do we close effectively in today’s sales environment?

In my experience, the key to effective closing today is to avoid triggering resistance.

Today’s buyers – be they consumers or professional purchasing managers – are better informed and more used to “getting their own way”. Whereas 20 years ago it was possible for a salesperson with a forceful personality and a handful of stock closing lines to “steamroller” a prospect into buying – today that just doesn’t work. Or to be exact – it may still work with some people, but not enough to make it an economically viable strategy. The balance of power has shifted from the seller to the buyer.

Unfortunately, so many of the closing techiniques revered by salespeople revolve around manipulating, tricking or putting pressure on prospects.

We’re told that instead of asking prospects if they want to buy, we should ask them when they want the product delivered. Really, would that work on you? If you were uncertain about whether you wanted to buy or not would the salesperson saying this suddenly make you cave in? Or would it instead make you think “Wooah! Hold on a minute. I haven’t agreed to buy anything yet” and actually set back the sale.

We’re told that just like children, prospects can be diverted away from the question  of whether they want something at all by asking which alternative they want (blue or green? jumbo or giant size?). Has anyone actually tried this technique on today’s kids? If my kids don’t want a bath, no amount of “do you want your bath at 8.15 or 8.30?” helps at all – you have to address the issue head on.

We’re told that by introducing false scarcity we can compel peopel to buy: “my manager is out for the day – I can only give you this price until he comes back”, “if you buy right now I can give you a 15% discount, but only if you buy right now”, “another customer has called to say he wants to buy this model – you have to decide right now if you want it”. How does it feel when salespeople say these things to you? You just know it’s a line and you don’t react well. There are websites dedicated to cataloging this stuff. My friends laugh and tell stories about the awful pressure techniques they’ve been subjected to like this. And of course, they don’t buy.

Most people can sniff out techniques like this a mile off – even if they haven’t read a “closing techniques” book. And if they feel you are using techniques on them – or you’re trying to pressure them into buying then you will trigger their resistance and their defenses will go up. They’ll start mistrusting what you say and stalling so they can reassess the situation.

So how can you close without using pressure or transparent closing techniques?

The answer is to treat closing as a joint planning and agreement session like you would with a friend or business partner.

How do you do joint planning? You simply and clearly summarise your agreements so far and propose the next step using plain and clear language.

If you believe they are ready to buy and have no outstanding concerns, simply confirm what you’re agreed so far and ask for the sale using your own language:

“So to summarise, your key issue is that you need to increase revenue from your larger customers by over 10%, and you need a marketing strategy to do that. You want the strategy to focus on how to reposition your firm as the quality and customer service leader – and you want a lot of involvement in its development from your team so that they buy-in to it and are really motivated to develop it. We talked about our approach to developing the strategy using a series of high-intensity workshops and you believe that’s the right approach to take – it will deliver the results, and we have the right people to make it work.”

Pause. Allow them to interject, raise issues, or clarify points. If they nod or otherwise confirm agreement, continue:

“It sounds like you’re ready to proceed – is that right, or is there anything left we need to iron out?”

Of course, you need to find the right words for you own situation. Buyers of management consulting know that “ready to proceed” means “ready to buy” for example.

If you’re not so sure they are ready, do the same summary – but be more open in your question – for example: “How do you suggest we take this forward?”.

While this may sound “weak” – in fact it’s the opposite. Remember, the key fear most prospects will have is over your intent. Are you trying to sell them a bill of goods, or do you genuinely have their interests at heart? Asking them how they want to proceed shows them it’s the latter – and makes it much more likely they will agree to proceed with the sale. If they believe you are putting their interests first, they will be comfortable with a few unresolved issues – knowing you can work out the details after things get going. If they are unsure of your intent they will want to have every i dotted and every t crossed before they are willing to proceed.

Everyone needs to find language that works for them. But in the words of Mahan Khalsa – “Intent counts more than Technique”.

Take these words to heart – and practice pressure-free closing.

What I have come to learn is the thing that determines the one’s reaction to  “Closing” directly relates to ones intent and sales culture.

There is no denying that sales, especially B2B sales, is a predatory pursuit. We can spend a lot of time parsing and redefining that, it is what it is regardless of where on the sales spectrum you are.  Once all is said and done, your boss sends you out in to the big wide world to sell, that is exchange money for something you have. The hope is that you provide value for the customer, bring pride and sunshine to your company and that at the end of the process achieve the preverbal win-win.  But let’s face we have all worked for and there continues to be a lot of companies and sales managers who will settle for less, much less, in fact almost anything as long as you deliver the one thing that counts to them: revenue!

Now this pursuit can be done in a civilized fashion, where if you are truly consultative in your approach, (call it solution selling, value selling, complex selling…), we call it interactive selling, then closing for you will mean something different for the wham-bam-thank-you-meme type of seller.

For the FFF type of sales reps who are truly transaction oriented, where getting the sale is the only important element, with little regard for what follows, closing is very simple: closing all means for the prospect to avoid buying.  Closing is a tactical approach, often very formulaic, you say this, they will have to say that, one leads to the next, and you’ve closed all exits, got a transaction, whether you have an ongoing customer is somewhat secondary, if that.  In some environments, especially where the game is understood by both parties, this “closing” in many ways works, and brings efficiencies to simple commodity sales.  Of course it is becoming more of a concern because so many things that in the past were not seen as commodities are now becoming “a commoditized sale”.  This can be a shock for both buyers and sellers.  Many customers who were accustomed to a high touch approach have been designated to an impersonal trans-active interaction with their providers.  In many cases providers have used available metrics to re-segment their client base and have realise that some clients are better served in an automated or indirect way where clients are dealt with as a pool rather than individual representation.  Here the client is commoditised.  Just as in other instances for similar reasons, the product provider and as a result the sales rep, find themselves being dealt with in an indirect way.  Just talk to a “solutions” sales professional who has been “shunted” to purchasing or procurement.  Done right, putting feelings and “relationships” aside, the process works.  We need a ton of this piece with these specs, how much?  Using factors such as credit terms, availability, reliability (product, invoicing, etc.)  and relationship, the seller and the buyer play a the “closing” game and a deal is done.

For the consultative seller the game is different, closing becomes more an issue of helping the client/prospect clarify objectives, then address opportunities and obstacles to reaching those objectives.   Closing becomes the skill of closing areas of concern based on the objectives. 

This type of closing is much more client oriented vs. transaction oriented. While the end goal is to make the sale, that sale is meant to be the first step in an ongoing mutually interdependent relationship between buyer and seller, on both a company to company level and more often on the level of the individuals who first came together in the initial sales. This is why we prefer to see this type of selling as interactive rather than consultative (a whole different discussion).

It is also the reason many sales professionals shy away from the term “close”, their view is that things are just beginning, the real opportunity has just begun, just opened not closed. Again we can spend time discussing the importance of that first sale to the relationship that results, we can discuss how the process, approach and tactics may differ (or not).

The key remains that as with many things, it’s not the words but one’s intent in the process.

Should a salesperson close a sale in one call?

Closing a multi-million dollar supplier contract to a corporate client in one call is uncommon, if not impossible. But to those who sell in customers’ homes, sell on the phone, sell door-to-door, or sell in a retail environment, closing the sale in one interaction is often the best way to achieve stellar sales performance, if you can do it. And that’s a big “if”. In some product categories, you’ll be out of work quickly if you don’t learn to close the sale on the first call, because few prospects will buy from you if you don’t.

I’ve seen many salespeople who had solid—if not outstanding—B2B sales experience who have failed miserably in sales positions which required closing the sale during the first call. Some excellent salespeople simply cannot do it, and many who have built their careers on sales relationships and repeat business are unable to navigate through one call close scenarios successfully.

Like it or not, salespeople who sell home improvements, timeshares, retail jewelry, and other products and services must close the deal while the customer is present because this is the period of peak interest in your product. Once the meeting ends, these prospects’ interest in your product or service decreases, and with it, the likelihood that they will buy from you.

Here are eight questions that will help you determine if you have what it takes to become a one call closer:

1. Can you engage your prospects very quickly?

Prospects warm up to some salespeople quickly, while they take a long time to warm up to others. If you have the ability to quickly develop rapport, get your customer talking, and allow them to feel very comfortable with you, you have the first building block of one call closing success.

2. Do you understand how to build sales momentum?

One call closers start the sale immediately, and with every passing moment, bring the prospect closer to becoming a customer. With each successful move forward, sales momentum is created. This isn’t accomplished with brute force, aggressiveness, or manipulation; it’s masterfully accomplished by understanding how customers buy and why they make decisions to move ahead versus decisions to “think about” a purchase.

Do your sales interactions have a feeling of forward movement? If so, you might become the next great one call closer. On the other hand, if your interactions are tentative, explorative, or lacking direction, you might fail in a one call closing sales environment.

3. Are you timid or tentative?

If so, you’re not a good candidate for a one call closing sales position. One call closers act decisively, assertively, and purposefully.

4. Are you persistent enough to ask for the sale several times, in several different ways?

In many product categories, the sale is typically rejected by the prospect the first time the salesperson asks for the sale (or the first five times!). To close the sale, you’ve got to be willing to ask for the sale again and again, in different ways.

5. Are you a great negotiator?

Prospects present objections left and right, not necessarily because they’re not interested, but because they’ve got Status Quo Paralysis. This is the affliction many (most?) shoppers have when it gets time to make a buying decision. Rather than say “yes” or “no”, they say “I have to think about it” or “your prices are too high.” This is where the skill of negotiation comes into play. You’ve got to be able to navigate through objections with ease and dexterity if you want to close the deal on the first call.

6. Do you focus unfailingly on the prospect’s needs and desires, and make that the foundation of your sales interaction?

Prospects only care about themselves. They do not care about you, except to the extent that you can get him what he wants. One call close specialists have a special ability to focus on the prospect’s needs with laser-like accuracy.

7. Can you perform consistently?

Selling in a one call close environment is like being a professional athlete. In pro sports, there isn’t any room for error. Things move quickly, and you have to be at the top of your game during each and every outing. One call closers have incredible consistency.

8. Are you highly skilled at selling?

Selling is a collection of skills. As a basketball player makes split-second decisions repeatedly during a game, a salesperson must do the same thing during a sales interaction. There isn’t much time to analyze or strategize. If you’re highly skilled at selling and have created an advanced understanding of customers and of how to sell, you could be the next great one call closer.

Close deals, close deals, close deals! That is what you are always told to do. By your boss, your bosses boss, the CEO, your spouse.

“Are you a closer?”

“Coffee is for Closers!”

Guess what! Closing is a term of certain recognition, but honestly no one can consistently secure deals by merely asking for a sale at the end of the process. Clever sales closes, tricks of the trade, they all amount to companies passing on your newer options and sending you packing. That you can win a sale at the end stage is ridiculous. This is pure hypothesis thrown out there by a group of people who forgot or never knew how to sell.

SELLING IS ABOUT OPENING DOORS AND KEEPING THEM OPEN!

Early on:

Asking for clear understandings of what your client is trying to accomplish helps you start building a plan to convert them into a client. Rephrase what you are told and gain confirmation from the prospect.

“So, if I understand you correctly, you are trying to…”

Throughout the sales cycle:

Redefine and qualify the buying requirements and clearly knock off each with a viable solution. Constantly recheck is there is more to be done.

“Is there anything else you need to see?” “Is there anything else that might stop you from going with us?” “What else might stop you from going this way?”

If you fail to proactively request this information, get ready to start handling objections.

When you are in proposal and deal making stage:

Repeat back those conditions and requirements as you share how your solution is the right choice. One by one, knock them down by showing a path. When you go through a point that they made in previous engagements, confirm that you have addressed it thoroughly. Again;

“Is there anything else that you need to see?”

Finally, the time has come to reel in that PO. The quote was delivered with a clear understanding that the customer was getting what they need. Guess what, you need not chase this sale, and why? The deal was already done in the stages leading up to completion. If you get stalled at this point, you missed something and have to go back to the start. Your start that is, because for the customer the engagement really starts once the offering is bought. Although this is when most people drop their clients and move on to the next prospect, beware. If it is the beginning for them, and you continue to build their confidence, you will get everything from more business to referrals. There is no closing in the sales evangelist guide book, just opening after opening.

]]> http://www.salesbloggers.com/2009/01/pssst-mr-sales-evangelist-closing-is-not-the-answer/feed/ 1 http://www.salesbloggers.com/2008/12/offer-more-choices-close-more-sales/ http://www.salesbloggers.com/2008/12/offer-more-choices-close-more-sales/#comments Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:59:52 +0000 Tim Rohrer http://www.salesbloggers.com/?p=641 Have you ever bought shoes at Nordstrom?  Besides greeting you pleasantly like everyone else; and having dress socks to substitute for your athletic socks like everyone else; and besides having their shoes on pedestals and expensive wood tables like everyone else; they do something I haven’t seen done anywhere else.

When you’ve tried on a pair or two of shoes and ask to see them in your size, the sales person disappears into the back room and comes out balancing what seems like dozens of shoe boxes.  I mean, he looks like The Cat in the Hat doing one of his parlor tricks as he weaves his way back to where you are sitting!

“What’s this?”, you exclaim silently as the shoes are set before you as if by magi delivering gold, frankincense and myrrh.

“I brought the shoes you requested and I found some others that you might like, as well,” the sales person says nonchalantly.

“You needn’t have gone to all this trouble,” you say, trying to keep from sounding like a child at Christmas.

“No trouble at all, sir”, the seller demurs.

While I am sometimes able to leave with just one pair of shoes, I always consider a second or third.  At the very least, the seller is able to interest me in shoe trees (“you would like to maintain your new shoes, wouldn’t you?”).

No doubt the sales managers at Nordstrom were looking at their statistics one day and realized that without the ability to prospect for shoe purchasers, they were either going to have to increase their closing percentage or their average ticket in order to raise sales.  Already at the top of their game when it comes to training they must have figured that raising the average ticket would be the most effective alternative.  The solution became offering more choices.

The clever part is that the additional choices are disguised as better customer service instead of a cheesy sales technique (“would you like an applie pie with that?”).  Brilliant and effective.

Now, you may not be able to offer more choices in your line of work.  The solution may be the solution.  But, don’t be in a big hurry to dismiss the possibility.  The key to the Nordstrom technique is to find out 1) The customer’s needs and 2) Their wants and then to offer choices accordingly.

Spend some time brainstorming before getting back into the routine in 2009 and see if you can use the ‘more choices’ technique to increase your top line revenue.