Cowboys, Cityboys and Silver Bullets

Have you ever seen the movie City Slickers?  Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) was smack in the middle of a mid-life crisis.  And his best friends, Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (Bruno Kirby) were having their own problems too.  Ed decided everyone needed a break and presented Mitch with a birthday vacation present – a rootin’-tootin’ New Mexico to Colorado cattle drive. 

All three city slickers seemed to be doing well and adapting to their new cowboy life. That is, until they met Curly (Jack Palance).  Curly was a tough, but wise cowboy that immediately singled Mitch out for trouble.  

The two eventually bonded and Curly shared with Mitch that there was only “One Thing” in life that ever really mattered. “Everything else don’t mean sh*t”, Curly stated.  Mitch tried earnestly to get Curley to help, but only received the response, “That’s something only you can decide”.

Mitch and his friends spent the entire cattle drive trying to figure out what the “One Thing” meant to them.  Each came up with different ideas, but none seemed to find an answer.  For you there’s only “One Thing” that matters too, but in your case, I think I can help.

Let me be Curley for a moment and ask, “What’s the One Thing” in your selling life that really matters?  Is it rapport, trust and opening the sale?  Or would you argue and insist that closing the sale is the one and only? Then again, I’m sure that some of you would say, “Neither, it’s solving customer/client problems”.  My answer, “None of the above”.

The “One Thing” that matters most if you’re selling a high-ticket product can be reduced to a simple and effective skill – developing “undiscovered” customer needs.  It’s the only skill that affects so many different parts of your selling process.  It affects both you and your customer in terms of needs, wants, perceived value, urgency and price.  Master this and you’ve mastered the most important part of high-ticket selling.

In the end, Mitch found the “One Thing” that mattered most to him was his family.  Ed found that it was his wife and their life together.  And Phil, he found it was a new relationship with a new girlfriend.

Each of the City Slickers found the “One Thing” that mattered most to them.  As a trusted advisor, you need to do the same. In this case, I’ve given you a head start – the “silver bullet” – Developing Undiscovered Customer Needs.

Developing Undiscovered Customer Needs is the “One Thing” – the only thing that matters in a high-risk/high-ticket customer decision.