Ooops, I did it again!
No, I’m not channeling Brittney Spears. I went shopping for a sports jacket and came home with shoes and pants as well. The store did Top Down Selling… good for them! It’s a lesson for all of us on showing what’s possible, not only what’s been asked.
Listen to this new 9-minute episode for some ideas on how you can sell more, and have your customers and couples be happy about the outcomes!
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
- Apple Podcast:
- YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8
- Stitcher:
- Google Podcast:
- iHeart Radio: https://ihr.fm/31C9Mic
- Pandora:
Below is a full transcript. If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at [email protected] or contact me via text, use the short form on this page, or call 732.422.6362
Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com
– “Oops!… I Did It Again.” No, I’m not singing Britney Spears songs now. Listen to this episode, and find out. Hi, it’s Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I started out by what sounded like singing a Britney Spears’ song, “Oops!… I Did It Again.” And what I’m referring to is I went shopping for a sports jacket today, and I haven’t been shopping for a sports jacket in a while because with the pandemic I haven’t needed that kind of stuff. I had a closet full. As a matter of fact, we gave away during the pandemic. I think I gave away 11 suits and seven sports jackets, and I still have like a dozen suits and half a dozen sports jackets. I used to wear a lot more dress clothes than I have been lately. So, I said to my wife, I want a sports jacket that I can wear either with dress pants or with jeans. If I’m dressed a little bit more casually or I’m dressed a little more formal, I want something like that. I have some in blue, I want something maybe in the browns, right? Something that’ll work in the browns.
So, we went over to Men’s Wearhouse and I had been looking on the website. I saw stuff, but I was a little reluctant to buy it online. I’d like to go try it on and see what it looks like. So, we took a ride over there today. Now, I’ve told this story many times from the stage, when I’m talking about top down selling, where had gone to Men’s Wearhouse one time, going to buy a sports jacket, ended up with a sports jacket, a shirt, a tie, slacks. Not just the sports jacket, and their job is to show me the possibilities, not to ask me if I want to see the other things. And I’ve told this story many times before. And so I go there today, intent, I’m going to get a sports jacket. I don’t need shirts, I have plenty. I have a hundred plus neck ties, no exaggeration. I walk in my closet every day and say, hey, sorry guys, today’s not your day So, I don’t need slacks, that’s, I’m going to go there, I don’t need shoes. I don’t need anything else.
What did I come out with today? There’s a sports jacket that’s coming in, they’re altering the slacks and I have a pair of shoes. That’s what they did. They did Top Down Selling. The salesperson there was very nice. She was very helpful. I actually would’ve bought more, and there was one particular jacket that is just not available in my size. My size is a little harder to find. I’m a little smaller than the average man. So, my size is a little bit harder to find and it’s not available. She went in the computer, it doesn’t exist anywhere. I would’ve bought two jackets. Went in for one, would’ve had two jackets there. She showed me some others, they weren’t something that I was looking for. And the funny thing is I went in to get a brown tone, sports jacket. I didn’t end up with that. I got one that’s more in the burgundy tones. A very nice jacket. I think it’s going to look great. They’re ordering, getting it in my size.
We’re talking about what could I wear with them? Definitely could wear jeans with them. A pair of charcoal, gray slacks would look good. And that’s what I ended up buying, was a pair of charcoal gray slacks, which they are now altering for me. Shoes, wasn’t looking for. My wife, saw a pair of shoes. She starts looking at shoes, the salesperson’s looking at shoes. Next thing you know, I have a pair of shoes as well. This is Top Down Selling. So, was it wrong of them to offer me those things? No. Was it pushy of them to offer me those things? No, it’s their job to show me the possibilities. They’re ignoring the fact that I came in for a jacket only because there are other things that they have to go with it. Too many people in our industry are listening to what the customer is asking for and then showing them that and then selling them that. I’ve talked about this on other episodes. There’s another one that’s going to be right around this time that I’m talking about called “You can’t always get what you want.” And the whole key is, people are coming to you because they want a result.
The result for me today is I wanted to have a sports jacket that was different than the colors I have. I have a lot in the blue tones. I wanted something that wasn’t in the blue tones, and I got that. Wasn’t what I thought it was, right? I thought I was going to have something brown. Didn’t think any of the ones in the brown were what I was looking for, the burgundy one, there you go. It’s going to give me what I want. It’s not going to be plain, it’s not going to look like anything else that I have. It’s giving me the result I want. Customers are coming to you for results. They’re coming to you and if you are asking good questions, if you’re finding out why they’re looking for what it is they’re looking for, you can give them better results. And that’s the key. They’re not coming to you for products and services. Those are a means to an end for you to provide the results that they’re looking for, for them and for their guests, whether it’s a wedding or a corporate event, whether it’s a fundraiser or a school event, whether it’s a quince or a bar mitzvah, they’re coming to you for results. Find out what they’re looking for and suggest results to them that only you can provide.
The truth is, I spoke about this on another episode as well. You’ll never know if your results are better because they’re only having this one event this one time. Yes, if it’s a corporate event and they’ve done it every year, they could compare maybe. But on that day with those guests, whether they are friends and family or employees or customers or whatever, that a event will only exist once ever in the history of the world. So you’ll never really know if your results are better than someone else could have done for that event. What they’ll know is did you meet or exceed their expectations? And did you find out what success looked like for them so that you know the target you’re trying to hit, and obviously are trying to exceed that target, but what target you’re trying to hit? And the key here is Men’s Wearhouse did their job, right? They sold me more than just the jacket by showing me what the possibilities are and then letting me decide.
So did I spend more money today than I planned on? Yes. Am I okay with it? Yes. Because when I put that jacket on and those slacks on and those shoes on, and the first time somebody says to me, “Hey, wow, that looks good.” I’ll get my ROI. And that happened the last time I went to Men’s Wearhouse, the first time I was at The Knot, I was Vice President of Sales at the time. And the elevator doors open, the receptionist was there and she goes, “Wow, that looks good.” That was the first time I was wearing that particular outfit that I had gotten. So ROI, return on investment is based upon expectations. Expectations or what you have to find out from them because if you don’t know what their expectations are, if you don’t know what target you’re trying to hit you can’t exceed it. She asked me what I came in for. I said a jacket, she heard that, but then she went on beyond that to say, here, this is what’s possible. Now I didn’t buy the belt that she was offering. I didn’t get any ties because I let her know that I have 100 neck ties and I don’t need anymore. She could have shown me some anyway regardless, because 100, why not have 101?
So the key for you is are you just listening to the customer what they’re asking for? Or are you showing them possibilities so they can decide to buy up? There’s again, your top down selling, saying let’s buy this, you could always come down. She could have always come down to the fact that I just was going to buy a jacket today or she could have ignored that, which she did. And again, good on her. It wasn’t pushy. I never felt pressured. I could have said no. I did say no to some things where she pulled out some other jackets, like, “Nope, don’t need that.” She asked about shirts. She asked about belts. No, I’m good, right? The shoes, did I need them? No, I didn’t need them. They’re nice? Yeah. Are they comfortable? Yes. Are they going to be good on concrete floors when I’m standing in a trade show booth? Yes. Or walking around a convention center from one end to the other like I do very often? Yes. So am I going to be happy when I’m wearing them? Yeah. And I’ll be even happier the first time somebody says, “Hey, nice shoes.” What’s the ROI? What are you trying to accomplish? What’s your customer trying to accomplish? And then do what Men’s Wearehouse did for me today? Oops, they did it again. I bought more than just a jacket. I hope this gives you some ideas. Thanks for listening.
I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is [email protected]. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
- Apple Podcast:
- YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8
- Stitcher:
- Google Podcast:
- iHeart Radio: https://ihr.fm/31C9Mic
- Pandora:
©2022 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com
