Page 76 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

‘And how’s Annabel getting on?’
Using the sister’s name seemed friendly; it made clients relax and
then they were even more likely to sign up. At the end of each sale,
Adrian would turn to his client and, say: ‘Samantha, are you
pleased with what you’ve done with us today?’
‘I’m really happy.’
‘Do you think Annabel would find something like this useful in
terms of building for her future?’
And so he left with Annabel’s number as well as an endorsement
from her sister. He was brilliant, so I started to use his techniques,
too. Referrals would mean I could drive a Mercedes like Tom’s.
‘So tell me, Anthony, how long have you been with Rank Xerox?’
‘Three years.’
‘So you must know the place pretty well. How big’s the sales
team there?’
‘Eight.’
‘Is that just your team, or are there lots of teams?’
‘There are five teams.’
‘Out of interest, Anthony, where do you think you rank in your
team?’
‘Honestly, I’m probably the number four’.
By the time I’d finished with a candidate, I’d have the names of
the three best sales people in the company. I would even say things
like: ‘You must have a league table at Xerox – have you got a copy
of the league table?’ and people would leave me a copy of their
league table that had the entire sales team’s names on it and told
me how long they’d been there and all sorts of other pieces of
information that helped me persuade them to join the company.
With more success, I started to get a bit more confident, and by
the time I left Reid Trevena I had developed another technique that
helped me get people to join us.
‘So, Jo, based on what we’ve discussed today, do you think
there’s anyone else in your office who might like to work here?’

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