The tale of Mr Sale vs Mr Service

therneau (58)in #steemiteducation • 7 years ago (edited)

One day, not that long, long ago, Mr Boss wanted to see who was actually his Number 1 employee when it came to providing directly to the bottom line of his business.

He called his top two employee's into his office and discussed the following:

"Good day gentlemen" Mr Boss said "I am going to send both of you to Alaska for a year."

"Alaska?" both Mr Sales and Mr Service asked at the same time.

"Yes" replied Mr Boss "I've heard many rumors about selling to Eskimo's so I thought this would be a great test to see who I actually want to take on as a partner in my company."

"A partner, fantastic!" they thought. This would be an opportunity of a lifetime!

So they were both sent off to Alaska to spend the next year there. Obviously extremely excited about the trip and the potential of becoming a partner in the company Mr Sale and Mr Service went off to Alaska.

Mr Sale

Mr Sale, being a very proficient salesman was off to a flying start. He literally sold ice to the Eskimo's. His flair for sales, convincing nature and the sales tactics he used made the Eskimo's fall completely in love with Mr Sale. These beautifully little packaged ice cubes were sold by the dozen and Mr Sale had already, in his first 3 month's, sold thousands of ice cubes to the Eskimo's.

Mr Sale was ecstatic!

Mr Service

Mr Service was off to a much slower start than Mr Sale. He didn't have Mr Sale's natural flare and selling abilities. He was a little more shy than Mr Sale however he thought he knew what it was that would make the Eskimo's happy. Mr Service managed to get one Eskimo to try out his product which was a heating system that worked on ice being heated, melted and then generated electricity.

Over the next 6 month's Mr Service was struggling with various issues ranging from the water freezing up in the system, the heat generated melting the Igloo to Mr Boss constantly telling him how well Mr Sale was doing. Mr Service was however constantly in contact with the Eskimo and kept working towards supplying the Eskimo with the best possible product.

Mr Sale

Mr Sale started noticing the number of his sales dwindling away. More and more Eskimo's started turning him away and asked him what must they do with the ice? Mr Sale knew he'd sold ice to all the Eskimo's he could find so he decided he would start from the first one he'd sold to again. This time around Mr Sale found it much harder to sell any ice. Most of the Eskimo's he spoke to simply didn't want to buy ice. Some had told Mr Sale that although they do like him they don't have any use for the ice and felt that they had actually been ripped off. Mr Sale was now becoming concerned about what he was going to do over the next few month's since selling ice to an Eskimo is obviously not the solution.

Mr Service

Mr Service was still struggling with the same Eskimo however he knew he almost had it right. He did not want to go see any other Eskimo's until he knew it was working exactly the way it should. He worked very hard that day and told the Eskimo that it should be working right now. The Eskimo had admired his commitment, learned to grow fond of Mr Service and Mr Service had also grown more comfortable with his Eskimo friend. Therefore the Eskimo decided to give it another try. That night the heating system worked perfectly.

Mr Sales & Mr Service

Mr Service was really excited about the news he'd received from his Eskimo friend. He asked Mr Sale if he'd like to go with him to see what he's been busy with. Being the socialite Mr Sale was he gladly accompanied Mr Service and they were both ecstatic to see how the heating system worked.

That evening Mr Sale and Mr Service were chatting away about all the possibilities his product could provide. "Can we convert it into something that would work with a toaster, a TV, a kettle..?" Mr Sale asked. "Yes, yes and yes" Mr Service said, beaming. "It's all about providing the Eskimo's with something that they need. I just don't have the time left anymore to get to as many Eskimo's" said Mr Service. "Besides, it takes me a long time to warm up to people and I'm just not very good at sales."

"Well," said Mr Sale "I'm very good with talking to people so what if I helped you?"

"Sure" said Mr Service

"Well alright then" said Mr Sale. "It's settled. You've taught me something so now it's my turn to teach you."

They were both very excited about this new joint strategy and ready to get going again.

Over the last two month's many conversions of the original product were sold and both Mr Sale and Mr Service were ecstatic at how well things were going and how happy the Eskimo's were.

Meeting Mr Boss - 1 year later

After telling their story to Mr Boss he thanked them both for their efforts and decided to send them an email later.

Dear Mr Sale & Mr Service

I trust you have both learned some valuable lessons through your experience in Alaska. There are a few that I would like to point out to you and these are as follows:

Selling someone something they don't really want or need will only be sustainable in the short term.
Selling something they do want or need will create better long term sustainability.
Sales without service is not sustainable.
Service without sales is not sustainable.
The best way to building a strong and healthy business is through teamwork.