Katy Kassian says she learned everything she ever needed to know about sales success by growing up in a family of car salesmen. She doesn't rely on any techniques that are flashy or powered by technology. "I happen to be old school," says the owner of Buffalo Gals Bakery in central North Dakota.
Kassian started her business, selling biscotti made from a family recipe and totes made out of repurposed coffee bags, because she was looking for a way to supplement her family's income. Her guiding principle has been something she grew up knowing as the Rules of Three. Kassian says her dad, Jim LeDoux, was a career salesman who practiced these rules: "Three seconds, three feet, three days and three people," she says. "And I can tell you from experience, they work. Using the rules, I have gotten my name out there."
Here are the rules Kassian swears by:
The Rules of Three
1. "Three seconds is all it takes to introduce yourself and a get a plug in for your business," Kassian says. "I really can't remember a time when I went somewhere with my dad that he didn't introduce himself to strangers and slip in what he did."
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2. "Three feet: If anyone is within three feet of you, introduce yourself and hand out a business card if you have one on you," Kassian says. "My dad passed away in 2010 and right up to the end he was selling."
3. "Three days is the absolute longest amount of time that should lapse between you telling someone you will call and actually doing it," Kassian says.
"When I lived in town, applying all the rules was fairly easy and something I did consistently," she adds. "Now that I go days or weeks at a time without actually seeing people, I find that three days is the number-one rule for me. I would say that 80 percent of the time my customers have said, 'Oh you really called,' and that makes me think a lot of people do not."
4. "Three people is the amount of people you should go out of your way to either introduce yourself to or mention your product or business to each day," Kassian says.
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That's a rule that has evolved over time. "I try to reach out over phone and social media daily to people," Kassian says.
Applying the Rules
Kassian says her father taught his children that the rules didn't apply to any particular job but to every sales job. "He said it didn't matter what line of work we were in, we were still selling ourselves and the rules applied," Kassian says. "I would not have sold so much had I not learned the rules."
Kassian says her dad had one other piece of advice that accompanied the rules.
"He taught us that no is just a word," she says.
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