One summer, on a Friday afternoon, a young man was being trained
by his supervisor on his first day as a salesperson at a large
department store. His supervisor was trying to show him the amount
of things he could sell to customers by making them feel they
needed the items. "Watch this," he said and approached a man who
has just entered the store. "May I help you, sir?"
The man replied, "I just moved into my first house and I need some
fertiliser for my lawn."
So the supervisor said, "Well, we have five- and ten-pound bags of
fertiliser. I recommend you go with the ten pound bag."
"Why is that?"
"The ten-pound bag will get you through most of the summer, but the
five-pound bag won't," the supervisor answered.
"Fine," the man agreed, "I'll take the ten-pounder." "Very good
sir. And would you like the stiff rake or the spring-rake with
that?"
"Rake? What do I need that for?"
"Well sir," said the supervisor authoritatively, "if you don't rake
up the old dead grass before you spread the fertiliser, it won't
all reach the soil."
"All right then. I'll get the stiff rake."
"Very good sir. And would you like the fixed sprinkler or the
oscillating sprinkler with that?"
The man started to get a bit steamed and asked harshly, "Sprinkler?
Look, I just came in here for some fertiliser. What do I need a
sprinkler for?" Calmly, the supervisor responded, "Well sir, if you
water your lawn immediately after fertilising, the fertiliser will
sink into the soil more quickly and in no time at all, you'll have
the greenest lawn in your neighbourhood."
This sounded pretty good to the man so he picked up the fixed
sprinkler. "OK, then. I'll take all this."
"Very good sir. And would you like the electric or gas mower with
that," asked the supervisor.
Now the customer had about had it and he all but blew up at the
supervisor. "LAWNMOWER? Look, all I wanted when I came here was a
bag of fertiliser. You've already managed to sell me a rake and a
sprinkler besides. Give me one good reason why I should get a
lawnmower, too!"
Calm as ever, the supervisor said, "Well sir, if you get a
lawnmower now, then you'll be all ready to start trimming your
beautiful green grass the minute it starts getting too long. Your
lawn will look like a golf course and you'll be the envy of all
your neighbours! Besides, they are on sale this week only, and
you're going to need it either way."
Well, the man figured that sounded OK and he really wanted to get
out of there before he bought anything else so at last he relented.
"Fine. I'll get the electric mower, but that's it!"
"Very good sir. I'll ring that up for you."
After the man had left the store with all his new purchases, the
supervisor turned to the trainee and said, "So, do you think you
could do that?" The trainee said that he thought he could and the
supervisor directed him towards another customer.
The trainee approached the puzzled-looking man and asked, "May I
help you sir?"
The man replied, "Yes. I need some tampons for my wife." Well, the
trainee is totally thrown off by this request. He can't imagine
what he could offer the man to go along with that. However, he
wanted to impress his boss so he thought hard. Suddenly, he had it!
"Very good sir. And would you like the electric or gas mower with
that?"
"Mower? What the hell is wrong with you? I came in here looking for
tampons. Why the hell should I get a lawnmower, too?"
"Well sir," the trainee answered, "I figure your weekend is shot,
so you might as well cut the grass."
