ens, losing many to grabby or otherwise preoccupied customers. But I also determined that if I went in with a bigger initial offer, they’d cut me back, but I’d end up at a higher volume than my mentor who was selling to bakeries.If there were a record for selling the most ballpoint pens in the shortest time to American restaurants, I would probably hold it.

This was one of my part-time jobs in graduate school, along with college teaching. In fact, it was this work that enabled me to make payments on a sparkling sports car during that time, making me a rare visage among my academic peers.

The pen-selling story is worth telling because it demonstrates an amazing, simple, and powerful point about increasing your sales.

When I was trained, I sat next to a guy who was pitching pens to bakeries, a gross, or twelve-dozen pens at a time. The most common objection he heard was “Hey, that’s too many—I can’t use that many!”

So, he’d cut back the offer to six-dozen and then to three-dozen, of course, cutting his commissions along the way.

I decided to do things differently. I figured restaurants use a lot of pens, losing many to grabby or otherwise preoccupied customers. But I also determined that if I went in with a bigger initial offer, they’d cut me back, but I’d end up at a higher volume than my mentor who was selling to bakeries.

it was this work that enabled me to make payments on a sparkling sports car during that time, making me a rare visage among my academic peers.

The pen-selling story is worth telling because it demonstrates an amazing, simple, and powerful point about increasing your sales.

When I was trained, I sat next to a guy who was pitching pens to bakeries, a gross, or twelve-dozen pens at a time. The most common objection he heard was “Hey, that’s too many—I can’t use that many!”

So, he’d cut back the offer to six-dozen and then to three-dozen, of course, cutting his commissions along the way.

I decided to do things differently. I figured restaurants use a lot of pens, losing many to grabby or otherwise preoccupied customers. But I also determined that if I went in with a bigger initial offer, they’d cut me back, but I’d end up at a higher volume than my mentor who was selling to bakeries.

e, and powerful point about increasing your sales.

When I was trained, I sat next to a guy who was pitching pens to bakeries, a gross, or twelve-dozen pens at a time. The most common objection he heard was “Hey, that’s too many—I can’t use that many!”

So, he’d cut back the offer to six-dozen and then to three-dozen, of course, cutting his commissions along the way.

I decided to do things differently. I figured restaurants use a lot of pens, losing many to grabby or otherwise preoccupied customers. But I also determined that if I went in with a bigger initial offer, they’d cut me back, but I’d end up at a higher volume than my mentor who was selling to bakeries.

many—I can’t use that many!”

So, he’d cut back the offer to six-dozen and then to three-dozen, of course, cutting his commissions along the way.

I decided to do things differently. I figured restaurants use a lot of pens, losing many to grabby or otherwise preoccupied customers. But I also determined that if I went in with a bigger initial offer, they’d cut me back, but I’d end up at a higher volume than my mentor who was selling to bakeries.

ens, losing many to grabby or otherwise preoccupied customers. But I also determined that if I went in with a bigger initial offer, they’d cut me back, but I’d end up at a higher volume than my mentor who was selling to bakeries.

Sure enough, I offered restaurant owners two small boxes of pens, with a gross in each. When they said I was overloading them, I replied, “Fine. No problem. Let’s cut that in half to just one small box, ok?”

It worked like a charm.

I became the ballpoint pen king of the crew.

Do you want to double your sales in the blink of an eye? Start with a bigger order, and then, generously offer to cut it back. You’ll appear cooperative, and you’ll surpass your sales if you went in with more modest amounts.

One more thing: Every now an then, your prospects will seize your initial offer, and you won’t have to cut it down, at all!