Wish, Wild Wish, and Fantasy (Part I)

When I was a girl in elementary school, one of my dad’s customers gave him a rental property. He signed the deed over to my dad and said, “Just take it . . . I don’t ever want to go back in there.” The house had been severely abused by the last renter, who had moved out and left a pet monkey in the home. Locked in the house for two weeks, it had exhibited typical monkey behaviors and destroyed the home. The traumatized primate had “poop painted” on the walls and urinated everywhere!

I was horrified at the sight and stench of the house from urine-contaminated flooring and walls. But my dad had a vision. He gutted the house to its concrete slab floors, and then he power washed, decontaminated, treated, and sealed the entire building. We chatted about our wishes and fantasies of making the home beautiful. 

I worked alongside my dad to transform the house into what we had envisioned. We painted the three bedrooms bright yellow, blue, and green; laid plush orange carpet; built in a cooktop; tiled the bathroom in rose ceramic; and hung curtains with a spice bottle print in the kitchen—remember this was the sixties. Once finished, the house sold for a profit very quickly and was the first of several dozen homes that we went on to remodel together.

As professional salespersons, our role is to understand our clients’ vision, and, if they don’t have one, to help them create one. An exercise I frequently use, patterned from time with my father, is “Wish, Wild Wish, and Fantasy.”

The Questions I ask clients if they had a magic wand and could wish for one thing related to the current issue or pain, what it would be. Next, I ask, “If we achieved your wish, what would your wild wish be?” And finally I ask, “If we fulfilled your wild wish, what would your fantasy be?” Then I propose a solution and focus our team on delivering the client’s fantasy. Deliver the fantasy, and you’ll have a client for years.

Asking about clients’ fantasies gets them to think beyond the current issue and frequently provides insight into what is really important to them or the root causes of their problems.

Today – Try the “Wish, Wild Wish, and Fantasy” questions with your family and friends. Once you have developed comfort and confidence, try the questions with your colleagues and clients. The transparency of what you hear may surprise you.

Here’s to selling Mastery. 

-Cherilynn

Head of Education and Growth, Sistas In Sales

Executive Coach/Managing Partner, CGI

Cherilynn Castleman, Executive Coach/Sales Trainer, has been a sales executive for 20+ years. With a natural talent for teaching and a drive to sell, Cherilynn uses her skills to coach and train other executives and sales professionals.

“It isn’t where you came from; it’s where you’re going that counts.” –Ella Fitzgerald

Dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” Ella was the most popular female jazz singer (USA) for more than half a century and won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.