This was e-mailed to me two weeks ago on Halloween:

Jeffrey: Here’s why Halloween should be a national sales holiday:

Trick-or-treaters are really salespeople in disguise!

1. Trick-or-treaters dress for success.

2. The most effective trick-or-treaters plan their routes wisely to maximize their time in the field.

3. The most successful trick-or-treaters start early and work late.

4. The most successful trick-or-treaters ask for the order!

5. The most successful trick-or-treaters network to find out where the best treats are to be found.

6. It’s a night filled with cold calling.

7. Savvy treaters have been known to try to ask for their fair share, wait a while and return for an up-sell.

8. If you want to get more treats, you have to make more calls.

9. Smart treaters always say thank you.

10. At the end of the day, if you didn’t get all the treats you wanted, you only have yourself to blame.

Happy Halloween! Andy Dix

I smiled when I read it — like you just did. Then I thought about it again when I went over to my daughter’s (and granddaughters’) house to watch and participate in the Halloween festivities.

Here is the rest of the list to prove that Halloween is not only a sales holiday, it’s a sales event, a sales process and THE sales lesson of all time. And you thought it was all about the candy.

1. Planning and preparation. Many people (and kids) plan their costume months in advance. And treats must be purchased or prepared in advance.

2. Creativity. Halloween is all about creativity. Hours are spent deciding and preparing the right costume. Adults and kids alike are in a heavy creative zone to make their costume the BEST.

3. Positive anticipation. Not just of the holiday, but the day of Halloween. Every kid is chomping at the bit to go out and “trick or treat.”

4. You (or your kid) make the sale at every home. As long as the porch light is on, you know you’re going to get a treat.

5. Halloween builds self-confidence. Reward after reward. Treat after treat. It all adds up to a positive self-image and the self-confidence to continue.

6. Immediate gratification. Show up. Be dressed properly. Ask for the sale. Get the prize. Is this a great holiday, or what? And the next sale is just 50 feet away.

7. Your coach is with you every step of the way. If you’re under 10 years old, it’s likely that your sales coach (mother or father) is right there with you, helping you smooth out your approach and complete more deals. They will work for peanuts – well, maybe peanut M&Ms — and they have your best interest at heart.

8. You celebrate with parents and loved ones. When you get home after your neighborhood sales calls, er, I mean house calls, the family is there to greet you and congratulate you. You dump out everything on the floor or a table and begin to survey your “loot.” Of course, everyone is ooing and aahing at your candy haul.

9. Victory never tasted so sweet. I’m certain (if you’re anything like me) that you ate a few pieces of candy as you were walking around. Now that you’re home, you can taste your success until you’ve had your fill, and still have enough left over for days – maybe weeks.

10. Do it again next year. No one ever says, “Hey, we did Halloween last year; let’s skip a few years.” NO! It’s an annual tradition.

10.5. It’s a blast. Whether you went to a party or went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, you had a blast and can’t wait to do it again.

Halloween. It’s not just a kid’s holiday. It’s a sales holiday and a personal development holiday. It’s a festival of celebration and success.

I hope you had one. I hope you took advantage of the opportunities it offered. And I hope to see you on the streets next year.

I’ll be dressed as former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman John Kruk. I’m not going as an athlete — I’m going as a ballplayer. If you see me, boo. (It’s a Philly tradition.)

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.

© 2006 Jeffrey H. Gitomer