102. The New Way of Selling

Dear Erik,

I recently spent a few days in London and I was very impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit, the level of service and the many innovations I saw. What a great source of inspiration. There are so many companies here doing business with verve, creativity and originality. For instance, there are many cinemas in London, but there is only one that is sold out weeks in advance, including the morning performances: the BFI IMAX. This is a large, round building, a hall for 800 people, a huge screen, and the highest quality sound and picture. Or take the London Eye – queues at the tills, even longer queues to get in. Or the fast food chain, Itsu: more expensive than other fast food chains, super healthy food, and always busy. Or Byron, a hamburger chain in London, but much more expensive than McDonalds: it is always full whether it’s the afternoon and evening. And there are many more examples.

I think these companies are successful because they have discovered a new way to sell. What all these companies have in common is that everything is exactly right. The product (food, the movie theatre, etc.) is unique, or as perfect as it can be. The service is awesome. They are exemplary, the staff knows exactly what to do and say in all circumstances. Once you have these two things in place, you have the new way of selling. The customer knows where to find you, is prepared to queue up and make reservations weeks in advance and is happy to pay higher prices. The service or product is of a very high quality and is head and shoulders above the competition.
The new way of selling consists of offering as much added value as possible. The company needs to offer something which is the very best in terms of functionality and service and must have a tremendous drive to be the best, the most pleasant and the most enjoyable. Gratitude must be expressed to the customer and attention must be paid to every detail and nothing can be overlooked. As a business owner you are rewarded with many customers who are willing to pay a higher price.
If you use the service or buy the product it all seems quite natural and obvious. But this is not true of course. It is the result of a lot of passion, perseverance, the will to be the best, continual improvement, training and learning, practice, constructive criticism and never giving up.
So the new way of selling is not selling at all, but making sure that your product or service stands out, ensuring that customers buy from you, rather than you having to sell to them. You do not need sales people, but people who do everything to please your customers and product developers who know exactly what and how the product or service should be before the user does. You could say that these companies have fans, rather than customers.
The new way of selling is something I am going to be focusing on.

Best regards,
Gerard