A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

Went on a walk this weekend around our neighborhood with my daughter.  As we started out, about a block away, we heard the cries.

"Fresh lemonade!  75 cents!"

It was cute because there were no cars driving by, and nobody else but me within ear-shot of their announcement.  But that didn't discourage them, because they kept chanting it over and over and over again.

We continued our walk, but made a point of walking over to them as we were circling back around towards our house.  Business must have been slowing down, because now they were yelling, "Fresh lemonade!  Only 50 cents!"  Four kids, two pitchers of warm lemonade, and a lot of enthusiasm greeted me after I dropped my daughter off at the house.

"Would you like some lemonade?" said the smiling kid?

"You bet," I said.

Then she hit me with a great sales question...a question that most sales pros fail to ask:  "Great!  How many glasses would you like?"

WOW!  What a great question.  "Uh, I guess I'll take three", I replied.  One for me, and two for my two daughters back at home.  Since I didn't have my wallet on me, I told them I'd be right back with their money - tip included, because of the great sales job.  The picture here is of my daughter (dressed in the green jester's hat - no real explanation for why she was wearing that, to be honest) handing our money to the lemonade sales pro.

The lessons you can take away from this story:

• You never know who's listening to your sales pitch.  But if you don't pitch it, it's guaranteed that they won't hear it and won't buy anything.
• You gotta know when to slash prices, and when to hold firm.
• Always smile and be friendly.  It attracts people (including new customers).
• Not only should you "ask for the sale", but you should also ask how much your customer wants.  The lemonade saleswoman asked me that question, and tripled her sales total.

Hats off to these young entrepreneurs and their lemonade stand.  If you want a lesson in how to sell lemonade - or most anything else, for that matter - their example is a good one.