GREAT LITERATURE FOR THE PORCELAIN LIBRARY

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Over the past 10 or so years I have been an avid reader of a series of books called the Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers. I don’t know if any of you have ever heard of these books, but they are great. However until today I would have never considered recommending them to you as MUST read books.

I say until today because today I was introduced to the power of the Bathroom Reader.

I got a call from a rep today that I haven’t talked to in about 8 years. This rep and I used to be close friends and our families would get together about once a week or so for dinner. About 8 years ago he moved away from Atlanta because he took a position with another company. We talked for awhile and then, like so many old friendships, we just stopped calling one another.

Today he said he was thinking of me and wanted to call me. As we spoke he told me that I have helped him make hundreds of sales. Needless to say I was flattered until he told me HOW I helped him make the sales. It wasn’t because of my awesome training ability, it wasn’t because of my incredible sales ability, it wasn’t even because of my unbelievable good looks and personality (well maybe it was my looks, but he didn’t admit it) he told me it was because of my Bathroom Readers!

It seems one of the times he was at my home for dinner he went into my bathroom and picked up a copy of my Bathroom Reader. As he sat in my porcelain library reading he became hooked on the wonderfully useless information. So much so that he went out and bought his own, and has been ever since.

While we were talking today and he was giving me credit on helping him close sales he told me that over the past years he has used information he got from Bathroom Readers to help start sales presentations, establish rapport with customers, keep conversations going, and most of all some of the facts he has used as features and benefits.

I was honored. Well I was at least happy that I helped in a small way. He told me that using what he calls “worthwhile trivia” makes him more interesting to his customers and in turn opens doors that may not have been open before. He says he has given Bathroom Readers to his customers as gifts and they become some of the gifts that are talked about and remembered for years (unlike pocket knives and pens).

So what is the message here? Have something to say when you go into a customer. It doesn’t always need to be important industry information or earth shattering product knowledge, sometimes it can be simply entertaining and interesting.

If you want a Bathroom Reader, look on Amazon. New they cost in the neighborhood of $12 to $15 dollars, used they start at a quarter!

I do some of my best thinking while on the porcelain throne!

Lorin