
Lessons From a 125 Year Old Business - grexi
http://usersnap.com/blog/lessons-from-a-125-year-old-business/
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vacri
_Never oversell_

This is a delicate art. Suggest-selling can enrich the customer's experience.
My mother ran a bookstore and I didn't like doing sales and suggesting
additional books. I was never pressed to, but I noticed that other employees
could suggest an appropriate related book without pushing the sale.

It wasn't often that the customer would take it, but because it was
appropriately related, they wouldn't lose out on the experience, and if they
did like it, it was higly positive and a win-win situation. A skilled
salesperson is interesting to observe.

~~~
arethuza
Software style over-selling in the context of a bookshop would be something
like taking money for a book that the author hasn't even thought about
writing.

Or maybe, in the style of "salesmen who can't say no":

"Is it a thriller?"

"Yes"

"Is a romance?"

"Yes"

"Is it an accurate historical account?"

"Yes"

"Is it science fiction?"

"Yes"

"Is it easy to read?"

"Yes"

"Who is the author?"

"Who would you like the author to be?"

[NB I really have been the sales engineer in meetings like that and I found
them to be awful - no amount of kicking under the table or subtle hand signals
would stop some people]

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michael_nielsen
This list of the world's oldest companies may also be of interest:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies)

Remarkable to see companies that have lasted more than 1,000 years! And sad to
see that Kongo Gumi - a Japanese construction compnay - shut down in 2006,
after being founded in 578 CE.

~~~
grexi
Wow, impressive list.

And founding a brewery in the 1400ies was really a good idea.

~~~
k2enemy
We don't see how many were founded and failed. So maybe not.

