Selling Ice to Eskimos Will Kill Your Business

“He could sell ice to Eskimos.”
I’m sure that just about everyone with two functional ears (or maybe even one) has heard this expression, and knows what it means. If you happen to live under a boulder and are not familiar with this term, it means someone who is able to sell anything to anyone, no matter whether they need it or not. A couple of months after I started at my company, my (at the time) supervisor said this about me, given my above-average performance straight out of the gate. I took it as a compliment, because I know that’s how she meant it. I have to admit, I was very flattered getting this kind of praise from the big boss so soon after joining the team. But after 1 year of dealing very directly with clients all day long, feeling out what their needs and wants are, and seeing how I can satisfy those and still remain within their budgets, I have to wonder...

Who the heck would ever want to be described this way?

The person that this describes has no interest in why their customer actually needs the good, or how much they can really afford it. In fact, selling ice to an Eskimo is flat-out wrong. This implies that your customer has no legitimate use for a product, whether they initially came looking for it or not. This is like the car salesman whose customer was looking for a small, reliable used truck, and he ends up selling them a $50,000 sports car they have no need for. This might look admirable from a purely traditional sales perspective. “Hey, it’s the customer’s fault for spending money he doesn’t have on something he doesn’t need.” Granted, yes, people are financially responsible for their own decisions. But willfully seducing someone into purchasing something that doesn’t suit their purposes is not only wrong, it’s bad for business. Here is why.

1. Customers will not come back to you once they realize what happened. They will see you as a manipulative snake, and they’ll consider this the worst buying experience they have ever had once they clearly see what happened.

2. They will never, ever refer someone to you. In fact, they will probably warn everyone they know to stay away from your business.

3. You are reinforcing the horrible reputation that salespeople, in general, are forced to deal with everyday. This will only make your job tougher in the future.

So instead of selling ice to Eskimos, how about selling them something they need? They will respect you for it tomorrow.