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ART OF SALES 2, 4.08 (V) The Drop Forge Story

4.08 (V) The Drop Forge Story

[MUSIC] When I was a young salesperson for IBM, I covered a whole bunch of manufacturing companies on the South Side of Chicago. And one day, I had to go to one of my companies and sell them. They were the type of manufacturing you call a drop forge. So I got into my car and I drove down to the South Side of Chicago and I called on this company, and I called on the President, and amazingly I got a meeting with the President. The President came to the front, he showed me into this very dingy conference room and I proudly opened my briefcase and spread out my brochures and I started selling. But I wasn't prepared that day. Because I had no idea what a drop forge does. Unbeknownst to me, about 30 feet through the conference room wall behind me, was the drop forge. In this case, it was a 40 ton piece of equipment that would drop 3 stories and land very abruptly, and punch out metal golf club heads. This company made golf clubs. And when a drop forge falls three stories and slams down to make golf club heads, it makes a tremendous noise. So about 12 minutes into my pitch, this thing landed behind me, that I couldn't see, and it scared me. And I jumped out of my chair, literally. And I said what was that? And the President of the company, sitting there very calmly, looked at me and he said, son, you don't know what a drop forge is, do you? And I said no, and he calmly got up, and he showed me to the door, and he kicked me out on the street. And that day, I had to drive back to my branch and tell my branch manager, my boss' boss, that I had lost that drop forge account. That was a tough day. So let's look at the story arch in action here. At the story begins, the context, I'm setting the scene by telling you what I had to do that day, plain and simple, nothing fancy. The emotion I'm going for is I want you to be curious. Then as we build conflict, uh-oh, he doesn't know what a drop forge is, the emotion I want you to feel is tension. Then at the climax, boom, the drop forge falls, the emotion I want you to feel is surprise. And then in the closure of that story, the result of my lack of preparation, the emotion I'm going for is plain and simple and that is fear. I want you to be fearful. The four elements of the story arc will help you make sure that you are a powerful storyteller and will help you be magnetic in your sales process.


4.08 (V) The Drop Forge Story

[MUSIC] When I was a young salesperson for IBM, I covered a whole bunch of manufacturing companies on the South Side of Chicago. And one day, I had to go to one of my companies and sell them. They were the type of manufacturing you call a drop forge. So I got into my car and I drove down to the South Side of Chicago and I called on this company, and I called on the President, and amazingly I got a meeting with the President. The President came to the front, he showed me into this very dingy conference room and I proudly opened my briefcase and spread out my brochures and I started selling. But I wasn't prepared that day. Because I had no idea what a drop forge does. Unbeknownst to me, about 30 feet through the conference room wall behind me, was the drop forge. In this case, it was a 40 ton piece of equipment that would drop 3 stories and land very abruptly, and punch out metal golf club heads. This company made golf clubs. And when a drop forge falls three stories and slams down to make golf club heads, it makes a tremendous noise. So about 12 minutes into my pitch, this thing landed behind me, that I couldn't see, and it scared me. And I jumped out of my chair, literally. And I said what was that? And the President of the company, sitting there very calmly, looked at me and he said, son, you don't know what a drop forge is, do you? And I said no, and he calmly got up, and he showed me to the door, and he kicked me out on the street. And that day, I had to drive back to my branch and tell my branch manager, my boss' boss, that I had lost that drop forge account. That was a tough day. So let's look at the story arch in action here. At the story begins, the context, I'm setting the scene by telling you what I had to do that day, plain and simple, nothing fancy. The emotion I'm going for is I want you to be curious. Then as we build conflict, uh-oh, he doesn't know what a drop forge is, the emotion I want you to feel is tension. Then at the climax, boom, the drop forge falls, the emotion I want you to feel is surprise. And then in the closure of that story, the result of my lack of preparation, the emotion I'm going for is plain and simple and that is fear. I want you to be fearful. The four elements of the story arc will help you make sure that you are a powerful storyteller and will help you be magnetic in your sales process.