"Sell Me this Pen"

I recently read another blog post about how to answer the famous "Sell me this pen" interview question. It was a good post. It made some good points. However, it also made the process harder than it needs to be.

There's a story about Ziglar being interviewed by Johnny Carson:

Carson points at the ashtray on the desk and says: "They say you're the world's greatest salesman. So sell me this ashtray."

Ziglar thinks for a second and replies: "Before I can do that, I'd have to know why you want the ashtray."

Carson looks at the ashtray. "I guess it's well-made, it looks pretty nice, and it's a good ashtray."

"OK," says Ziglar, "but you'd have to tell me what you think it's worth to you."

"I don't know," says Carson. "I guess $20 would be about right."

Ziglar smiles. "Sold," he says.

I owe a great amount of what I know about "sales", although it is much more than that, to Mr. Ziglar. I met him once and he was everything in person that he is in his books, cassettes (yes, I am that old), cds, and videos. He is missed - but his wisdom and humor can still be found there.