Can you sell me this pen?

Manager: Can you please sell me this pen?

Sales guy: Let me tell you what that whole exercise really stands for. The whole sell me this pen narrative is really... It's a test that you give to a salesman to see if they really understand what selling is all about.

If you ask someone who's not a professional salesman, who doesn't have the right instincts, they'll start actually trying to sell you a pen.

This pen is great.

This pen writes upside down.

It's the best value for its money.

This pen will last forever.

Here, buy this pen.

Here's the thing. The only one rational thing you could do when someone says, sell me this pen, and that is to start asking them questions.

So tell me, how long have you been in the market for a pen?

What type of pens have you used in the past?

Is it business or personal?

Typically, you buy a pen, what type of money do you spend on one?

Do you buy an expensive pen?

The key to selling is to find out, step one, what are your client's needs, values, what pain

What are they looking at yourself? What do they need?

And you're looking to fill that need at the most basic level, right?

Sapes guy continues:
Well, when you just go out and try to sell something, what you're saying is, I don't give a shit about you.

I'm just going to ram this down your throat, right?

I want to know what you need. I want to know what you've done in the past. So you ask questions.

If I ask them, Hey, so how long have you been in the market for a pen? They say, Oh, I'm not looking for a pen. Great.

How would I say?

I don't sell people the things that you are looking for. I wouldn't try to sell you a pen if you're not looking to buy a pen.

And if someone said that to me, I'd say, Wow, this person really knows how to sell. Because the biggest mistake that rookie sales would make is they try to sell to everybody.