What Has Sales, Brexit and Football Got In Common?

I received this image in my Facebook News Feed this morning from an old school friend. As you can see he’s a fervent Sunderland fan. He's from that area but we were at school together in Doncaster and it got me thinking.

Today Britain was due to leave the European Union, so we were told so many times by Theresa May, the current British Prime Minister. The current time is 13:15. Doesn’t look like it’s happening and is anybody any clearer?

So back to Brian and his Sunderland shirt. I remember watching the results roll in that fateful evening and how Sunderland set the tone on 23 June 2016. Since then how has fulfilment been handled. Were there any post sale processes in place?

Let’s once again look at how the ‘sale’ was made, this time as a Sunderland supporter.

Ok Brian, you’re in the North East and there are only two teams in the Premier League (OK all you Middlesborough fans let’s say 3). Which one would you like to support for the rest of your life? 50 years later you wake up from your dream and find that there were other choices you should have been able to consider but no-one told you.

You could have supported Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal but you weren’t to know they existed. As a North Easterner, you would probably still have supported Sunderland or Newcastle but the point is you didn’t know there were other choices.

On 23 June 2016 and the days leading up to the referendum how many of us considered the Irish problem.

It’s like joining a gym and being told you can’t use the equipment, buying a house and finding out you have the neighbours from hell, or buying a car and finding out it has no rear bumper, or a ‘backstop’.

The world has changed and people move around much more than they did in ‘the good old days’. People all over the world support British Clubs. They see all of the teams with all their facts and they make their choice.

Nobody buys anything online or offline these days without first reading reviews, looking at social media and gathering as much information as possible. Every salesperson knows that the buying process has changed.

In the case of Brexit, the key facts obviously weren’t there. We’ve been left with a useless gym membership and the neighbours from hell.

So, I ask, putting emotions aside, would anybody have ‘bought’ Brexit on 23 June 2016 if the Irish backstop deal breaker problem had been a line item on the order form? Or, is it the same blind passion that drives a football supporter to follow their team week in week out?

Brian has been happy as a Sunderland supporter all his life. Most supporters, despite their weekly despair are happy with who they support, because after all it’s just a game, even though the legendary Bill Shankly thought otherwise.

Salespeople always lose the sale if there is an objection that hasn’t been unearthed and dealt with. We all thought it was in or out but then we discovered there was a backstop.

Come on Sunderland, hope you can find a backstop in Sunday’s final (just for you Brian). As you know I’ve followed Manchester United for as long as Brian has suffered in the North East.

And the final question as always, is did you get the sale?

If you'd like more sales then let's have a chat. Why not start here?