Sell This Pen to Me

I think he did more than what he said about listening to a client’s needs, he created a desire, almost by shaming the client for not respecting the thing that was most integral to his job. It was very clever. He didn’t just meet a need, he opened up one.

I was asked to sell a pen before. I asked "This pen is mine now?" "Yes, sell it to me." I pocketed it and said: "No." "What do you mean?" Me: "I just got a free pen, I win." "Ok, joke's over - you're not getting this job. Give it back now." Me: "$5 bucks." Didn't get the job, but I got a cool pen.

I was sold at imagining a magic pen.

"Sell me this pen" is a trick question. It helps the employer gauge which sales technique the job applicant employs while trying to sell the pen. There are two techniques to my knowledge. Market-oriented strategy. Here a salesman finds the demand for a product and then proceeds to supply that product. A typical answer from a market-oriented salesman would be "Would you like to buy a pen, Sir?". If the customer disagrees then there is no demand and the salesman will find a market where there is demand. Product-oriented strategy. Here a salesman persuades his customers into buying the pen even if they didn't want to buy the pen. These strategies may work with products that have unique selling points or not a lot of suppliers, meaning they are a niche in the market. But to employ them to a simple pen is a very difficult task. Thus the question also gauges how smart, in terms of business decision making, the applicant is. In your case Mr. Hannibal you employed the product-oriented strategy rather effectively, but your efforts may be misinterpreted but the employer.

This is great advice for anyone looking to do any job not just magic. One thing that really sells it is the flattery and setting a fixed time frame for them to use it.

Pulls out a gun BUY MY PEN!!!! No fancy sells pitch needed.

My boss actually did this exact test on me but it was his cell phone. He left the room for 60 seconds for me to think first, but I still did pretty bad lmao. I can rember struggling to think of what to say, "this phone has the newer graphics" lmao

Any kind of free life advice is a blessing….

I enjoy your talks it's truly magic.

It’s a hard question because a pen is quite literally a dime a dozen, but the point is solid. My dad was a salesman his whole life. He taught me that the key to being an ethical salesman was “need analysis.” An ethical salesman finds a real need or desire of someone and matches that desire with a good or service. The ethical salesman earns their keep by saving the buyer and seller time in finding each other. That’s why it is hard to trust a salesman with only a single product. Even a car salesman has a range of vehicles to sell with a range of prices and pros/cons. Find out what the Customer needs and desires and find something they can afford (if they can’t afford it, you’ll only be meeting their needs in the short term). In theory, this should also be the goal of companies. At the end of the day, does it matter what you sell? Not exactly. What matters is that you sell at a good margin and keep making sales. To that end, companies should seek to find out what the public will regularly be able to buy and sell that to them. Sadly, a lot of companies are run by CEO’s with option agreements that only incentivize around five years of growth, so truly long term decision making is absent at the top.

Fecking Legend. What he says here makes sense.. i just needed to know about it.

Was about to save this vid on watch later, turns out i already did it years ago. You are amazing. Greetings from Brasil

I still come back to this vid. This vid is gold!

It funny how many people missed the point. It was never about just selling a pen.

can someone tell the cameraman to hold his hands still

He sold me the pen and I already have lots pf pens!

Hope you are alirght, you are amazing

Just take the pen and say thanks I will keep it. When they say you can't, tell them they can have it back for $xxx. That is how you sell the pen.

You really remind me of a street performer that used to work M2 in market square in Pittsburgh back in the 90’s

somebody got a link where I can buy this pen? I really need it.