THE SCIENCE OF STRANGERS & SALES

Science is simply a body of knowledge that comes from findings and research.

Strangers are people you barely know or who are just mere acquaintances.

Sales is the act of selling goods or services especially when a purchase is made.

Have always expected that family and friends would be a patronizing and purchasing customer of goods and services until I launched my first book and I was surprised my highest sales comes from strangers.

I felt bad about this shocking reality that transcends my fantasy and I began to understudy the "Science of sales". What I discovered in that research was twice shocking compared to my experience because I felt utterly disappointed as to why family and friends are the most terrible customers of an entrepreneur, sole proprietor, small and medium scale enterprises, artisans and even big companies.

The major reason I found out why family and friends will not patronize at first instance was because they wouldn't believe in you until they see a result. Even Jesus was not accepted in his hometown "A prophet is but without honor in his country" so as a sales person your sales is dependent on how much you can attract strangers to your products but terribly enough, just like myself, many young and upcoming entrepreneurs are still entangled in their day dreaming and unguided expectations that family and friends should accept their products first before the strangers.

Need I to say, when I started broadcasting my articles on WhatsApp platforms, the first set of people to tell me "Stop sending me a broadcast message" were my best of friends, though I was embittered but I respected their preference and I stopped sending them my articles as personal message until by and large, I started gaining audience from strangers and some of them began to lobby to get me send the same articles they earlier resented and even go ahead to boast about me been their friend on status after uploading my work.

The earlier you start to channel your energy to attracting strangers to your goods and services, the better sales you'll make and it will in turn influence your family and friends to patronize you later on. Not because family and friends doesn't want to patronize you but because that bond you've with them is not a yardstick for them to do so but rather how well your products meet their needs. I have this bias that "90% of your family and friends doesn't need your products or already has a customer before you join the business hence you need a result to get them convinced of your services"

If you are into any business at all and you still have some friend requests you reject, chances abound you're losing a potential customer. If your network of influence has not exceeded your close relations, you've not started at all. If you are rigid towards making new friends and connecting with new people, you're not doing well at all because you're shying away from people with whom you've the greatest advantage to make sales.

Why strangers tend to patronize more than family and friends is what I'll research into subsequently but I believe this group of people are those who will transact business with you as pure business, a stranger is not likely to make findings about your goods and services if he/she is not interested in purchasing eventually unlike a friend who is likely to make enquiry for asking sake and might even be expecting you to give them what you're selling as a gift or negotiates for a ridiculous lower price just because there's this sense of belonging of at least "You're my friend". It depends on how you're able to present what you do to a total stranger that would determine if they will eventually make a purchase.

As good as transacting businesses with strangers is, you as the business owner must spice up your products with first a respect for your potential customer and make quick to let him/her know what is therein to gain for them when they purchase your product and not been focused about your own sales because that'll come eventually if the customer realized what he/she is missing if your product is not patronized.

I have always say this "Your Network is Your NETWORTH". The more business contact you have, the more connections you make, the more audience you have the better your chances of sales. Selling is a serious business that some people studies it for years in College but since everyone of us must have something to sell either as a good or service because human needs are insatiable and we all can't attend University to gain knowledge of sales, article like this are germane and sacrosanct to increasing your sales.

In your experience, who are your best customers? Family and friends or Strangers?

To Your Business Growth,

Adegboyega Emmanuel

Emmanuela D'a Muse