The Art of Becoming a Better Middleman

I am an MBA. I am also a real estate salesman.

During my two-year stint at business school, I learned very little about the art and science of salesmanship. This past weekend I went to West Meade Wine & Liquor Mart to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner with some friends. I spent about twenty minutes in the store and left with much more than a bottle of wine—I left with an education in salesmanship that I will take with me the rest of my business life. Twenty minutes with an oenophile taught me more about selling than two years at an elite business school. Here are five lessons I learned while buying a bottle of wine that will make me a much more effective middleman.

1) Don’t be a salesman—be an expert: The salesman I dealt with was more than a salesman. He was an expert. During the twenty minutes I was in the store, I never once felt like I was being sold to. I felt like I was taking a Wine 101 course. I learned why it is important to know about ruffino soil when considering a Chianti. I learned about specific vineyards and even learned some of the stories behind the families that produce some of the finest wine in the world. By establishing himself as an educator and an expert, the salesman won my confidence and earned my trust.

2) Questions, questions, and more questions: Throughout our conversation the salesman was asking questions. He was not trying to steer me towards a particular bottle of wine, rather, he was trying to discern my preferences and tastes. He asked ab0ut my favorite wines. He asked how long I had been drinking wine. He asked if I could distinguish between the different flavors in a wine and which flavors I preferred. He asked what I was having for dinner that night. Though I didn’t know it, he was making the sales process very simple by asking me the questions he needed to know in order to sell me the bottle of wine I never knew I already loved.

3) Nice is nice: I know a lot of experts I would never buy from because I simply don’t like them. The salesman at West Meade Wine & Liquor Mart was genuinely a nice guy. People don’t just buy from experts—they buy from experts that they would like to drink a bottle of wine with.

4) Give options, but know the decision: After learning exactly what I was looking for, the salesman presented me with five bottles of wine to choose from. He then talked me through each of them and systematically eliminated all but one. He made me feel like I had several choices, but he knew exactly what bottle of wine I was going to buy.

5) Price is always relative: Of the two bottles of wine that remained after three were eliminated, one was quite a bit more expensive than the other. My expectation was that the salesman would try to convince me that the more expensive bottle was worth the extra price, but he did just the opposite. He candidly told me that the more expensive bottle was indeed a very nice bottle, but it was not worth the extra money. I walked out of the store feeling like I got a good deal.

Whether you are selling real estate or running a publicly traded corporation, these lessons will help you become a better middleman. And to steal a quote from the movie Layer Cake, “the art of good business is being a good middleman.”