It takes more than mere persistence and refusing to take no to make a sale sometimes. Sometimes you have to sit down with the prospect and hunt for a workable option.
For the past two years, my oldest son has been taking karate lessons at a local dojo. On occasion, the sensei/owner has tried to get me to take a class (besides martial arts, the dojo also offers impact training).
As those of you who have met me know, I am not exactly a skinny guy. And at times I have tried to have an exercise routine but could never do it on a steady basis. So I was already a receptive, if not all together willing, target.
During the past week, the dojo had a motivational speaker do a presentation, a former contestant on The Biggest Loser. While I did not attend the presentation, the speaker did motivate the sensei to speak to the parents of a number of students regarding health and weight loss.
As it happened, I was at my son's class this Sunday morning, which is somewhat unusual this time of year because, once spring starts, most Sundays I umpire baseball and/or softball games.
This particular Sunday, I only had afternoon games scheduled, and furthermore, it was raining, meaning those games ended up being cancelled.
When I went into the sensei's office to ask a question regarding the dojo's schedule, he took the opportunity to hit me with the hard sell.
He was prepared to answer my objections, a key point in being able to make the sale. My biggest objection in the spring and summer months is time. Any Sunday I am not umpiring is because I have other things planned like doctor's appointments or family gatherings.
Well, how about the weeknights, he asked. Once again I had plenty of objections, because for the next two weeks, I either umpire or had volunteer work every night.
He finally hit the point where I couldn't raise an objection. The game for today is rained out, so how about coming back this afternoon. My only sticking point was that I would need to clear it with my wife; the sensei called her and cleared that hurdle (he also tried to get her to participate, but he was not as successful).
The next time I see him, I know he will be working on round 2; there are no openings in my schedule right now, but if he finds one, I have a feeling he will be ready to grab it.
