The Turkish Rug Sales Team By Steve
Waterhouse
I just returned from speaking in Istanbul, Turkey
where I bought, no, I was sold, a rug and in the process
learned that real selling, and especially Team Selling,
is alive and well.
The Turkish people are warm and friendly so it was
not unusual to be approached by a nice looking, well
dressed man in his late 20's as we stood there reading
our map. "You are looking for Blue Mosque?" he asked in
broken English. "I can show you where entrance is. Come
this way." With that he started across the street and my
wife, son Tim and I followed.
As we walked down the long sidewalk that leads to the
Blue Mosque, our new friend said, "I am Azad. I am not
tour guide, but I show you. You see that building over
there? That is family business. After you see Blue
Mosque, maybe, just by accident, we sell you a rug. Just
by accident." At this point I knew we were in for a
great experience that is uniquely Turkish, and we were
not disappointed.
The tour of the Blue Mosque was fascinating. We
learned about the thousands of blue tiles that are used
to decorate the Mosque in place of pictures, which are
banned in Mosques by the Muslim faith. Azad, who seemed
to have a story to accompany each topic, answered every
question we asked in wonderful detail. As we left the
Mosque we followed our host down a narrow stone alley to
an area full of interesting shops. Azad pointed to the
nicest store on the block and said, "This is my family
store. I show you." We were escorted into a room that
was filled with beautiful rugs stacked, rolled and piled
neatly in every corner. Azad introduced us to his Uncle,
Habib, who owned the store and said that he would like
Habib to show us around. With that, Azad left and we
never saw him again.
Habib was very well dressed in a blue blazer and
starched shirt and he spoke perfect English, which we
later learned, he acquired at school in London. "Please,
sit." Habib said, motioning us to the couch. "Before I
show you a few of my carpets, it is our tradition that
we serve you something to drink. With that, one of his
assistance entered carrying a traditional Turkish silver
tea service with wonderful apple tea for three. Now the
real show began.
Habib told us about the various styles, materials,
patterns and origins of the rugs in his shop. For each
type he mentioned, one of his cousins found a beautiful
example and flew it out before us. I say 'flew' because
that's what he did. He was able to unroll a 5x7 rug and
then spin it in the air so that it landed at our feet
with the fringe perfectly straight and the carpet
unwrinkled. One after another the rugs were spread out
before us until there were easily several dozen rugs of
every possible description piled on the floor. Finally,
Habib asked, "Just so I can get a sense for your
preferences, can you tell me, if you were to enjoy a
Turkish carpet in your home, what size would fit best?"
Gina and I agreed that the 5x7 would be best for a floor
rug.
Again Habib asked, "If you were to have one of these
beautiful carpets to enjoy in your home and pass on to
your children, which style would you like?" His
assistants moved carpets around until we had agreed on
the basic style we liked. The process of elimination
continued with up to three cousins flying rugs in and
out of the display area until only four were left. Habib
said, "Do you have a favorite among these?" We made our
final choice and the cousins removed all except our
favorite rug. Habib complimented our choice and assured
us that we had picked the Rolls Royce of carpets.
Knowing what a Rolls costs, I knew we were in trouble!
Now came the price. Habib opened his calculator and
started entering numbers. In a few seconds he turned to
us and said, "In US dollars, this carpet is $5,300." Now
I was prepared for a shock, but that was way out of line
with our expectations, so let the games begin.
After many cycles of offer and counter offer, we
finally set our firm price at $2,000. Habib said,
$2,500? I apologized and assured him that my offer had
nothing to do with the quality of his carpets but simply
our budget and $2,000 was already $500 over our budget.
We settled on $2,000 and walked out with our new rug.
But what had I learned? First, that Habib, Azad and
his family were willing to spend a great deal of time
with us before we ever talked price. The tour of the
Mosque, the dozens of rugs, and the wonderful tea all
added value to the sale.
We had also seen a great example of Team Selling.
Azad did the prospecting, the cousins made the
presentations and Habib was the closer. They worked
together like they had rehearsed it a hundred times. In
fact they had, and as a result their communications were
flawless. Azad brings in 10 prospects each day and Habib
has a 70% closing ratio.
We can learn a lot from the real pros in this world.
For a free copy of "5 Steps to Building a Great Sales
Team", please email
article6@waterhousegroup.com and ask for article #6.
Steve Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse
Group (www.waterhousegroup.com), a sales consulting and
training company that helps companies dramatically
increase their sales. He can be reached at
1-800-57-LEARN or
info@waterhousegroup.com.
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