Clean Shoe Parade

We all love a good war story.  Here’s one I heard from a customer today related to hitting target at the Eleventh Hour.  With a directory ad sales campaign on its last day, a tarmac and cement company in Retford was cold-called some years ago.

The Marketing Director was in, and agreed to meet for a few minutes.  Once inside, hands were shook, then the prospect immediately pronounced that the meeting was over.  His explanation was that the rep had dirty shoes, and he did not deal with anyone like that as “salesmen should always have shiny shoes”.

Crestfallen, the rep nipped into the nearest shoe repair shop, bought a shoe-shine kit and duly polished away vigorously.  He then returned to the offices and chatted up the receptionist to take his shoes into the Marketing Director’s office.  She happily played along, as she knew about the dirty shoe barrier.  The meeting recommenced, and an order was placed.

Not only was this subsequent business for ten times the average order amount, it also enabled the rep to sail across the campaign target threshold when all had looked lost.