It wasn’t always that way. When we got hold of it, it was about a third built, no plumbing to speak of, no pool, it had become the dumping ground for rubbish from the area. It was infested with rats, packs of island dogs and the local vagrant had made it home.
Entrepreneurs Paradise
Still the hotel was built, there were no actual buildings to go up, but the basic structure was there. Some years on and the hotel opened to great fan fare. One of things that people commented on then and more now, is the foliage in the garden. You can see from the picture below that it is a spectacular sight.
Let me tell you how it got that way, and what I learned.
Being new on the island everybody wanted to sell us stuff. Building material, electrical services, phones, you name it we were the target. When the hotel was pretty much done we started to buy plants and one enterprising lady noticed a gap in the market.
80 Year Old Sales Guru
She must have been 80 if she was a day. She came shuffling along with one of our staff. He was someone who was living on the hotel as a vagrant, he was about 40 but with the mental age of a 10 year old. We couldn’t bring ourselves to make him leave so set him up with a little room and gave him a job helping out.
The Teaser
They both approached me and the guy theatrically said ‘This lady has some flowers, Chief’. Now I am a bit of a softy when it comes to little old ladies so I asked how much she wanted “20EC (about £5) she said” – My friend snorted and in a broad Caribbean accent, sucking his teeth said “Not worth 20, we give you 5″… “OK” she said looking a little disappointed. My friend took the flower to the gardener and off she shuffled.
The Resell
An hour passed when I noticed the lady near the reception area. This time she had 3 plants in her hand. 
“30EC she wants for them Chief, I say 15″.. “OK” she said and shuffled off.
The Upsell
An hour later there is a kerfuffle going on near reception. I wander over to see my friend loudly talking with the lady. “What is going on” I said, trying not to be too amused at the pair arguing. “Chief, Chief look what she brung!” he said waving to a huge wheelbarrow full of flowers.
“Man she thinking we running an international flower company!” It was all I could do to stop myself rolling around on the floor laughing so I bought the lot. I got a smile and a little kiss from the old lady and a scolding look from my crazy Caribbean friend, who told me everyone would be here tomorrow with barrows full of flowers.
Now if you wanted to learn a lesson about spotting a market, making a small sale and then making an up sell, this lady knew it all!
The good news is the the hotel would never has been as beautiful as it is today if that little old lady hadn’t sought out the opportunity that day, been persistent and been a great sales lady!
Regards
David
@OneLifeNoFear
Davids Blog
I love the story. It just points out that no matter what level you are at there can always be the up sell. Some things are timeless as some of the lessons in the bible taught in proverbs and latter on in the USA by Ben Franklin. Still latter to be repackaged by Napoleon Hill. I guess some things never change and are as old as time. Thanks for the insight into business.
Inspiration and technique comes in all shapes and sizes. What a great story. Just shows you don’t need to be a suit to have great advice.
Everyone can gain from reading this story.
Really cool story!
Give a “discount” early on and reap the rewards later.
I like your motivation videos!
Good luck with the blog.