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Use Food to Get Sales Prospects to Open Their Doors

Use Food to Get Sales Prospects to Open Their Doors

SalesAdvertising, Marketing & PR

Eat this. Buy that. It seems that some salespeople think that food is the way to sell. You can use food to sell, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it.

The wrong way is to think that your customers will make buying decisions based only on donuts and coffee. I think that is a flawed sales strategy. You’re wasting valuable selling time simply bringing food to prospects if you’re not getting something useful that you can use for your sales process that moves it forward.

Consider using your time and your food strategically.

Here’s a great example of a talented sales professional who used food to sell. She was having a tough time getting to meet with a prospect. Her prospect wasn’t returning her phone calls. She tried leaving voicemail messages at different times of day -- early, noon, and late. Nothing worked.

That’s when she got creative and used food to sell. She decided that donuts and coffee would be a great door opener. Her prospect was a plant foreman. She arrived at the plant at 7 a.m., which was just a few minutes after her prospect arrived.

She told the guard, “I’m Terry with Company XYZ. I have Steve’s coffee and donuts. Can you tell him I’m here?” The guard called Steve. He said, “Steve, Terry’s here with coffee and donuts for you. Should I send her back?”

What do you think Steve said on a cold, early morning? “Sure. Send her back.”

Food is a thoughtful, creative way to get prospect doors opened. Once the door is opened, you have to be ready to do business. When Terry got to see Steve, she was ready. She told him, “I’ve been trying to meet with you for months. I came here to see if you want me to get lost or if you think my work on reducing maintenance costs might be a fit here.” They had a business conversation and Terry got the next meeting with Steve.

That’s what coffee and donuts can do for you.

I’m a fan of using food to say thank you to special customers who go out of their way to help you. I recently delivered a Nothing Bundt Cake (yum!) to a wonderful CEO who offered to help my daughter with a roofing project.

It’s a creative selling strategy to use selling tools that your prospects can eat. You just might get to meet your prospect sooner.

Profile: Maura Schreier-Fleming

Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling, a sales training and sales consulting company. She works with business and sales professionals to increase sales and earn larger profits. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results and Monday Morning Sales Tips. Maura focuses on sales strategies and tactics that lead to better sales results. Maura is a sales expert for WomenSalesPros. She is part of their group of top sales experts who inspire, educate, and develop salespeople and sales teams.She speaks internationally on influence, selling skills, and strategic selling at trade association and sales meetings, demonstrating how her principles can be applied to get results. She successfully worked for over 20 years in the male-dominated oil industry with two major corporations, beginning at Mobil Oil and ending at Chevron Corp. She was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. and was one of Chevron’s top five salespeople in the U.S. having sold over $9 million annually. Maura writes several columns to share her sales philosophies. She's been quoted in the New York Times, Selling Power, and Entrepreneur.