PATTERSON PRINCIPLES OF SELLING

John Patterson was president and founder of the National Cash Register Company. He is also credited with starting some of the first sales boot camps, writing some the first books on overcoming objections and developing the original personality sales model. In short, he was one of the fathers of American Salesmanship!

If you want to learn more about how his sales techniques could help your business, Jeffrey Gitomer wrote a book about him called The Patterson Principles of Selling. It is one of my favorite books! It's just 120 pages, an easy read and packed with stellar information!!!!

If you'd like a taste of what you'll find in Jeffrey's book, check out this GitBit from Jeffrey's website (Once you get to his site, sign up so you can take full advantage of Gitomer.com. It's FREE!). This link is packed with powerful lessons that will help you sell more! If you like it, buy the book! It stays on my shelf here at Wolff and I refer to it often!

For more study on the history of John Patterson, take a look at this post on the HBS Working Knowledge Website. It is another great run down of Mr. Patterson's experience and how it can be applied today! Have a good weekend!!!

A GREAT DAY AT FOLEY

It was a fruitful day yesterday! I had a terrific time with Joe and we got a lot done!

The new Foley building in Kansas City is a little smaller than it used to be, but well put together and effective. All the ladies up front were as nice as they could be and I was glad I had the chance to finally meet some of them. It was fun watching all of them work together decorating for Christmas.

Shortly after getting there, and meeting with Tim (he's the big guy around town), Joe and I holed up in a back room and got to work. I took him through the paces on the Hira-To® first. I showed him how the clamp works for both right and left hand shears, how to lock the blade in and proper convexing techniques. He took to it like he's been doing it forever! :) We talked about some of the difficulties I've seen my newbie students struggle with when they first start on the machine, and discussed how to overcome them. Joe said that by far, it's the best Flat Hone he's seen in all his years doing this!

We also took some time to work with the Ookami® Convexing Clamp. He had never seen me use it before and had a number of questions. After going through the procedures, Joe picked right up on it and plans to suggest Foley look at carrying it too. After that, we worked with the new Corru-Gator. Two seconds and he was corrugating on it, and he said anyone else could too! It was the easiest machine he has ever used! He could definitely see the benefit it will be to industrial customers and to any sharpeners that want to produce a perfect corrugation.

All I can say was it was fun! And Joe and I found out that we had something else in common, we both worked in optics before getting into sharpening. Small world! Today I am off to the Kansas City Airport area to look at potential hotels for a future Wolff/ Huff Show. I'll let you know what I find.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

While on my way through the terminal in Charlotte, NC, I was treated to a medley of Christmas Tunes that make me think to write this post. Both my wife and I love read to our children! Good books are a staple item (or should be) for a child's growth. Reading to them is a wonderful gift! With that in mind, here is a great website for you to check out:

www.wonderofbooks.com

It is a great source for children's books, and many of them are signed by the authors. I don’t always buy from this site; I buy most of my books from Amazon or at my local Barnes and Noble because I never buy a book blind! Especially for my kids! But this site will give you some good ideas.

If you want to bring a smile to the face of a special customer that has a child, bypass the candy and buy a book for their little one! Just put some thought into it or just buy one of the classics! They are the best, and a safe way to go!

Right now, my wife is reading Paddle to the Sea to our family. It’s a wonderful book! Memories can be made around the couch or easy chair, and a gift like this will leave a lasting impression! Try it with a few of your best customers and watch their eyes light up!

ON MY WAY TO FOLEY

I hit the road tomorrow! Actually I hit the air, but you know what I mean!

Foley is our newest proud distributor of the Wolff Hira-To® Flat Hone Sharpening System! I will be working with Joe Webber, showing him the ins-and-outs of how the machine operates, and I'll spend some time with Foley's support staff. It's going to be a blast!

I will also be visiting some hotels in the area because Kansas City is a target for a future Wolff/ Huff Show. I should be able to blog while on the road, so keep an eye out! I'll let you know how it's going!

PS - I had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you did too!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! We all have much to be thankful for!! Enjoy your turkey!!

Photo courtesy of ahajokes. Wouldn't suggest cooking your turkey this way though!

BACK FROM BUFFALO

What a great couple of days! I got to see Stephen work his wonder while riding with him yesterday! I can see why he sell so many shears!!!

What he does is simple. Everyone can do it! The write up will be in next months On The Edge.

I also found a really nice voice message on my cell phone when I got home from Steve. This is what he said about his new Hira-To:

"I just sharpened my first beauty shear by myself on the Hira-To, and it came out great!!!!!! The ironic thing is the shear I did was an Ookami 302. What's the chance of that?!!! Thanks for all your help and patience! I love the new machine!!!!"

The Hira-To, with it's patented fixture, will help set you apart from all the other sharpeners in your area too! Drop by Hira-To.com and look it over! If you have any questions, just give us a call here at Wolff 1-800-888-3832.

A COUPLE DAYS WITH SHEAR MOBILITY

I'm doing some training on both sides of the fence for a few days. I'm training Stephen Toth of Shear Mobility. He bought a Hira-To, so I'm showing him all the ins-and-outs of how it works. At the same time, he's giving me some training on scissors sales. It's been a great trade!!

Stephen sells more shears than any other individual sharpener I know! We did a class for some beauty school students today and we'll be working his route tomorrow. I'll be doing a writing up on all this in next months On The Edge.

This is my time to learn! One of my biggest draw backs is I'm stuck in the office at Wolff! Every once and while I like to get out into the real world and ride with some of my students. I'm thankful that Stephen is giving my this opportunity. Look for more on this over the next few days.

THINGS ARE A GO WITH 44/20!!!

It took a while, between my travels and Mike Mailman's at Economy Supply it was hard to get all our ducks in a row, but we're ready to rock and roll now! Here is a link to the 44/20 Website:

www.44/20.com

Without a doubt, their thinners are some of the best received in the business and the master shear is a favorite for barbers. You can now purchase these shears through Wolff at the same price you can get them from Economy Supply! Just give us a call and we'll let you in on all the details!

We have a few catalogs to send, so if you'd like one let us know. More info will be coming soon about which shears are the most popular, so keep an eye out!

SYSTEMATIC NEGLECT

Life is sometimes just a series of systematic neglect! Ever hear that? Well I've been living it this past week! It always seems I'm neglecting something to do something else!

I find it hard from time-to-time to juggle so many balls, and last week, let's just say; I bit off more than I could chew! I had to burn some vacation days, so I decided to tear a deck off my house and rebuild it. AAHHHH!!!!! It was fun, but far more work than I thought it would be. That's the reason for the silence here at Jim Sharp. I just couldn't keep up with all my have-to-dos!

Posting will resume on Thursday. I'm training a fellow today and tomorrow. Sorry for being out of touch!

HIRA-TO.COM IS UP AND RUNNING

Hira-To.com is online and it's about time! Trust me, this site is NOT perfect! This is my first attempt at building a website. (Which is a lot different than building a Blog surprisingly!)

If you would, take a look and let me know what you think. Also, I'd like some feedback on the FAQ Section. If you're willing, please look it over and see if you can come up with any other questions I should answer.

In the future, I plan to add video clips to the About Section and a number of external links to the FAQ Section. Any feedback is welcome! Just send me an e-mail at Jim@wolffind.com.