As a mother of children between the ages of 7 to 10, I’m amazed by their innate negotiation skills and natural marketing and sales talents. As I watch or listen to their communication techniques, it reminds me that we’re all born with these innate sales and marketing skills in some shape or form, but we sometimes lose or unlearn them as we get older.

So I’ve decided to pinpoint the marketing and sales techniques my children use, that we all need to incorporate into our advertising!

Natural Sales & Marketing Techniques Kids Use

1. Get Customers to Say “Yes”
   Ever notice that when your kids want something, particularly something large or extravagant, they find an eloquent way to ask for it? They frame a narrative, and come up with logical reasons on why saying “Yes” not only helps them, but the entire family as well. Then they ask you for the item very politely and creatively, after they get you to say “Yes” and agree to all their other points.Gaining consent throughout the sales discussion puts your customer in a position of understanding and agreement, and removes barriers along the way.
2. Turn a “No” Into a “Yes”
   Do you ever notice that children rarely take “No” for an answer? After listening to your reasons for rejecting their request, they develop new points or angles to get their point of view across to you in another way that they believe you will understand and relate to better. You’ll often find yourself changing your mind, agreeing to your nifty children’s new perspective. In sales and marketing, it may not be that your prospect doesn’t need your service or product; you may not have addressed their needs or concerns in a way that directly relates to them.
   Remember: Every customer is unique! When you encounter objections, it’s important that you dig deeper into those objections and learn why they exist, so that you can help resolve those issues through your products or services. If you get to the root of those issues and provide productive solutions, you’ll have a higher chance of closing that sale.
3. Offer an Incentive
   Sometimes I simply don’t want to give into my kids’ requests because I just don’t want to change my rules. However, in these cases they can get really creative and give me an offer I can’t refuse. They’ll promise to go to bed 30 minutes earlier every night and read in bed, or they’ll practice their piano lessons every day for 20 minutes without me asking, or they’ll wake up earlier and make their beds before school. When the offer is enticing enough and I believe it will add value to our daily lives, I consider changing my mind and giving into their negotiations to see if they will live up to their promise. Then I’ll evaluate if it was worth it. In sales and marketing, sometimes you have to think of something that you’re willing to give in order to get people past the barriers they have in trying your service or product… Sometimes, that could be a free trial, a discount, a money back guarantee or return policy. Think of something you’re willing to offer to entice those customers who are on the fence.
4. Live Up to Promises
   When children want something badly enough (especially after all the hard work and negotiation) they’ll go all-out to follow through on all their commitments to their parents in order to keep the gift or privilege they’ve been given. They know that if they don’t keep their word, that privilege will be taken away. The same applies to your customers.You’ve worked very hard to get each and every customer. And we all know that it costs more to get new customers than to keep existing ones happy. So once you have that new customer, do everything you can to keep your word, and even go above and beyond to exceed their expectations. If you do that very well, not only will you keep a happy customer that will continue to give you business, but they will become your best sales ambassadors, telling their friends and colleagues to use your business too.

Share the sales and marketing tips that you’ve learned from your kids in the comments! We all have interesting (and sometimes funny) stories about how our kids have convinced us to do something we weren’t expecting to.

If you’re looking for fresh marketing ideas for your business, contact us for a free 30 minutes consultation… Oh, did I just throw in a small incentive to get you over the barrier of contacting an agency for some advice?