Lest We Forget

Have you ever had a day when nothing went right? I seem to have had every bad driver on the Island of Malta (and there are plenty of them!) either in front of me or behind me this week. Every traffic warden I encountered must have been having a bad day also and decided to take it out on me! I really wanted to shout at someone - thankfully I was alone in my car when the thought struck! It started me thinking - we in the timeshare marketing business meet different people every day and spend a considerable amount of time with them. Yet how seldom do we take the time to find out just what sort of a day they're having?

Over the years that I spent teaching the Government Skillshare program on retail sales in Australia, one of my main hobbyhorses was our lack of interest in our customers! Sometimes we forget the simple fact that our customers are just as prone to “bad” days as we are. We forget that customers are “people” with moods, problems and priorities - just as we are!

Our priority is to sell them a Vacation Package - but there is every possibility that buying one wasn't exactly what they came in intending to do!
I truly think if a guest at one of my resorts walked up to one of my representative's table and said “I wish to purchase a Vacation package for my family” my hardened sales representative would have a heart attack!
True - people love to buy!- but “buy” is the operative word here; as distinct from being “Sold” that is!
Your job (and mine) is to simply make it easy for people to do what they love doing! Spend money. But first, as my old mentor Bill Gove used to say “we have to get some of the obstacles out of the way”!

We have one of the best products in the world to offer our guests - the chance to take endless vacations in exciting and exotic locations around the world. Why wouldn't they jump at the chance to become an owner/member with us today! Well let me ask you this? Would You? What would make you want to part with several thousand of your hard earned funds - today!

Why, a friend of mine from England visited me here in Malta last week and found that their travel agent had booked them into a Dump! They were so disgusted that they were ready to write off the money they had spent and just go home! - I showed them one of our suites and they were so excited; on the basis that I could get them the use of one of our units to complete their stay, they signed up on the spot! - (true story). Did they sit down intending to buy? Absolutely not. We just managed to get “one of the obstacles” out of the way. Humor, and third party stories, are the greatest “door openers” we can use to establish a relationship without which no one will buy.

Let me share a story (my favorite) with you! We all stress the need for our guests to make a “today” decision; saving money is a major factor here. Our administration costs are halved and we are delighted to pass this saving on to our new owner!

John and Martha are an elderly couple visiting the County Fair. As they wander the show grounds John can't take his eyes off a small aircraft offering “joy” flights for only $10.00.
“You know Martha”, he said. “I've always wanted to go up in one of those flying machines”.
“Now John,” she replied, “Ten dollars is ten dollars”! “I don't think we should spend the money!”
“All Right” replied John, hiding his disappointment.
The next year they were back and John again expressed his desire to “loop the loop” in the open-seater bi-plane. Again Martha reminded him that “ten dollars is ten dollars” and again John reluctantly agreed.
The following year the pilot who had remembered seeing them each year called them over and offered them a deal too good to refuse.
“I'll give you a free flight,” he said, “If neither one of you say a word throughout the flight! One word out of either of you and I'm going to charge you the Ten dollars.”
“It's a deal”, said John.
On landing the pilot having put the aircraft into several loops, approached John and asked “How come you were so quiet?”
“Well” replied John, “when Martha fell out of the plane I was going to say something - but then dollars is ten dollars!” -
Use it - I promise you it will loosen up any prospect!

Here, in closing, is my “shots of the week”! - and you thought you were having a bad day!

New suspension anyone?
lorry tip over Malta

Peter J. Shield

(Visit http://GoingGlobalTV.com for a complete update on Peter's activities in Malta.)
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Contact Peter at pshield@onvol.net

Shield International (Malta), 72 Triq IL Lampara, Bahar ic Chghaq, Malta NXR08, telephone number +(356) 21382257, Mobile number +(356) 99402956