By Frank Felsburg, Principal, Cogent Training and Consulting LLC

You see them at every major sporting event you attend. You hear them, too. “Who needs tickets?” they say. And then, before you’ve even passed them and averted their gaze, they change gears and say “Who’s selling tickets?” You ask yourself , “Are they selling or buying?” And then you realize the answer is both. Not only are they selling, but they’re also buying or receiving free tickets to sell at a higher price.

Even though this activity, scalping, is illegal, it goes on all the time. In many ways, it’s a microcosm of the “Big Board,” the New York Stock Exchange, and the world we live in. Supply meets demand, and a transaction takes place. But did you ever stop and negotiate with one of these scalpers? As soon as you ask “How much?” even if just to test the waters, the negotiation begins. You think they only have two or three tickets but it turns out they have a whole inventory. And they know their inventory well.

“What do ya need?” they ask quickly, probing effectively. An excellent opening salvo, if I do say so myself. A good open-ended question, used to gather information. The ball is now in your court. How do you respond? Depending on the event, you could go right for the primo seats. But, if you do, you can expect to pay big bucks, and they sure don’t take checks or credit cards. “What’ve you got?” you ask inquisitively, eyes wide open, like a kid in a candy store. A good retort, keeping the dialogue going and getting the seller to put his cards, or in this case tickets, on the table.

Often, what you hear next almost makes you want to cry (either in amazement or from disappointment). The scalper rattles off a whole panoply of different seats or sections, some you would give your eyeteeth for, others that have more to do with your nose than any other part of your body. Seeing your eyes light up when he mentions he has seats “on the fifty-yard line,” “mid-court,” “right behind the penalty box” or “on the first base line right behind the insert your favorite team here’s dugout,” he now has you doing mental gymnastics. Emotion has taken over. It has trumped rationale and, for a moment, you’re back at the office reliving every single play with your colleagues, bragging about where you sat for the big game.

“How much?,” you ask, as if rationale had anything to do with buying game tickets. The price is high (you knew it would be) but because the scalper has shown you the value, despite the cost, the deal is consummated (as surreptitiously in front of 10,000 other people as is possible). Then, the thought occurs to you,”What do I do with the cheap seat tickets I came with?” So, you decide, you try to sell them to the person you just bought the tickets from, but it’s like selling ice cubes to eskimos. Sure, he may give you a few bucks for them, but he already has a supply that will last him halfway through the game.

It didn’t take this “salesman” long to realize the 5 main rules of closing sales: 1) establish a recognized need, 2) have a viable solution, 3) the value must justify the cost, 4) create a sense of urgency for the product, and 5) the prospect should have the authority to buy. Then, as soon as he rings up your sale, he’s back at it. “Who needs tickets? Any extra tickets?” he asks confidently, knowing that, with the anticipation of the game at hand, the sense of urgency is increasing every second.

Frank Felsburg is a sales trainer with Cogent Training and Consulting LLC. He can be reached at 610-938-2616, via email: ffelsburg@comcast.net or on his website: www.cogenttraining.com.