Everybody has heard a fisherman's fish story where they tell you how big the fish was. You know the one where they hold their hands apart to show the size of the fish? It really is a great way to show size, but your audience needs to be on the same page as you.
Tony Foster is the owner of Valhoma Industries, a nylon tack manufacturer. Tony, along with my current boss Bo Brown, are two of the best sales reps I have ever worked with. They have the gift to make a customer feel like they are the only ones in the room. They are both excellent detailers and make customers feel at ease and not threatened whatsoever. I haven't worked with Tony in several years, but he tells a story that is simply a classic. I heard this story about 20 years ago, so I hope I do it justice.
Robert Boley and I worked together at Coastal Ag back in the early 90's. Robert was a great rep who traveled the east Texas piney woods and probably had more "characters" in his territory than anyone I have ever worked with. I was able to meet a lot of them when I filled in for Robert when he was on vacation or when I was selling tack for Coastal Ag. These store owners were as "folksy" and salt of the earth as they come and once you met them, you had a friend for life. Tony was riding with Robert while he was expanding his territory and was making a few cold calls at the end of the day. The two of them walked into a store, introduced themselves and told the stores employees about the products they represented. Robert asked if he could walk the shelves to see if they were out of any product and the owner obliged him. After he had checked the stores inventory, Robert and Tony sat down with the owner and began to go over Robert's list.
A few years back, several companies manufactured and sold a dog wormer pill that contained Dichlorophene and Toluene. They were usually purple in color and there were various sizes for different weights of dogs. 1 lb., 5 lb., 10 lb., 25 lb. and 40 lb. were the weight that the pills medicated and you gave a dog the pills that added up to the dogs weight. The largest of the pills were about the size of a pecan or peanut and the smallest were the size of peas. A sixty pound dog would take 1- 40 lb. and 2-10 lb. pills in order to be wormed. These wormer pills were normal stock items for just about every feed store in the state and I remember taking orders for them at literally every account I called on in a normal work day.
When Robert was almost to the end of the pet section of the list, he told the buyer, "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. You're just about out of 40 lb. dog wormer pills. Should I send you some of those?". The owner looked at Robert with a quizzical look on his face and said "Say that again?". Robert gave a half confused glance at Tony and then told the man again, "You're out of 40 lb. dog wormer pills. Should I send you some?" The owners expression was that of dire confusion. Robert had really stumped him on this one. He squinted his eyes and repeated "What?" By now Robert and Tony knew something was amiss in deep east Texas. Robert once more repeated slowly, "40 lb. Dog pills. You're out."
By now the store owner was as confused as a T-sip at a Mensa convention. (Did I just say that? I did). He unfolded his hands and held them out in front like he was trying to show how big a fish he caught. He held his hands about shoulder width apart and with the most perplexed look ever, questioned once again, "40 lb. dog pills?". By now Robert and Tony knew what had confounded the man. The store owner literally thought they meant a 40 lb. pill. Robert looked down at the table, slowly closed his order pad and said, "Thank you for your time. We'll be in touch."
Robert and Tony walked back to the truck knowing they could now tell their grandchildren, without a shadow of a doubt, that they had now heard and seen it all.
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