Now you’re asking for it

Some years ago, when I was a somewhat younger ShortWoman, I worked in the kind of business that required “closing techniques.” That’s a fancy name for getting a sizable check and a signature out of a customer. I personally preferred a very soft close; I showed my product in its best possible light and demonstrated its benefits; either my product was going to work for the customer or it wasn’t, and no amount of badgering the customer was going to change that. As a result, I was one of the few people in my industry who routinely had people come back a day, a week, a month later with checkbook in hand. Furthermore, I had more “renewals” — repeat business — than many colleagues.

But even with the softest of closing techniques, I still had to ask for the money. People might say no, but they can’t say yes if you don’t ask. Churches and charities even know this. Does the local preacher leave a box at the back of the hall for offerings? No! He passes the plate up and down the aisles, putting your donation or lack thereof literally “in front of God and everybody.” And hasn’t every mailing from a charitable organization you have seen included a card preprinted with “Yes! I would like to help! Here is my donation of…” and usually a series of checkboxes with recommended amounts. Some of these are preprinted with your name and address, and come with a handy envelope. “No” is never ever listed as an option.

Strangely enough, there are pockets of corporate America that have not figured out that they must ask for the money. Every “buy now pay later” scheme rests on the sinking sand of not asking for the money. Witness, this item in the current issue of Forbes:

That just happened with Mitsubishi in America, which had great success selling cars to people who couldn’t pay. Possibly you remember the Mitsubishi commercials: loud music, young drivers at the wheels of sporty cars. And what deals: no money down, no payments for a good while. Sales kept rising, but not the payments on the cars. Mitsubishi lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and the bill isn’t final yet. The company stopped the giveaways, replaced management and canceled its U.S. expansion plans. Recovery will take years. But I know that in a few years another company is bound to do the same thing.

Nor is Mitsubishi the only company to have the delusion that moving product is more important than getting paid for it. Google for “no payments for” (be sure to include the quotes) to get an idea of how big this problem is. As of this writing, it would appear that I can get 90 days with no payments and a fair interest rate from WalMart, Dell, and Honda Motorcycles. I can also apparently get no payments for 12 months on Pella windows and doors, and certain Sony Grand Wega televisions from Crutchfield. This is the results of 5 minutes searching, to say nothing of any local vendors which may offer ludicrous deals of their own. Furniture stores seem to be particularly bad about failing to get the money up front. If the “no payments until next year” ads haven’t started in your area, they will soon.

Is it a sale when the customer buys it, or when he pays for it? That is a question to ask yourself when reading up on companies you’d like to invest in.