Business Lessons from the Hooker-Booker

After delivering the Workshop, we adjourned to the bar for a well-earned glass of Champagne.  As I ordered the drinks, I noticed that the girl sat at the bar next to me had two mobile ‘phones in front of her – so in order to make conversation I said – “those two make you look like a drug dealer…”

She looked at me, smiled and said – “different commodity, same process…”

I must have looked confused; “I’m a hooker-booker. This ‘phone is for inbound requests and this one is outgoing bookings…”

This somewhat bizarre conversation got me thinking – not about that – but about the 1964 book “The Act of Creation” by Arthur Koestler, in which the principle of Bisociation which “means to join unrelated, often conflicting, information in a new way” was first established. 

In other words – can we improve a product or process by embellishing it with the attributes of another seemingly random, unrelated one..?

So what can the Hooker-Booker teach us about Business…?

1. Sell what Clients want – Hooker –Booking records go back to the 18^th Century BC. Mesopotamians recognised through the Code of Hammurabi that women, including prostitutes, should have rights of inheritance. 

The reason that the industry has been around for so long is simply that clients want what is on offer – there is a demand for the services and therefore regardless of legislation, religion or attitudes, it continues to thrive. 

• Are your products and services really in demand...?
• Do clients want what you are offerinh...?
• How good would your product have to be that you didn’t need to sell it, you had to ration it…?

I see so many businesses that focus all their attention on Marketing and Selling, when what they should be doing is actually looking at their products and services, to see if there is a demand, and if there isn’t adapting to what the needs of the Market.

2. Be Attractive – It pays to be attractive. Remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not the mirror; you need to be attractive to your clients. They may see what you don’t, so you need to know what they are looking for and what makes your proposition attractive to them. 

Sisters Louise and Martine Fokkens had been working as prostitutes in Amsterdam up until they retired at the age of 70 – with Louise stating that her arthritis meant that certain positions were simply not possible any more.
  
Someone found these two ladies to be an attractive proposition; between them they had sex with around 350,000 men. It is one thing providing a service that is in demand, but you still have to be able to attract clients to you in order to be in business. 

• How attractive is your business…?
• Do you get noticed amongst all the others that are to you…
• Are you good to do business with, what is your vision and passion…?

Some of the best businesses don’t achieve their potential because they are the best kept secret in their sector; make your business visible, give it a makeover and help it to attract the clients you want. Plus if you are really attractive, you can probably charge more too…
 

3. Have a Niche – in the sex industry there are too many “niches” otherwise known as fetishes to list here. It is clear that clients have a range of interests, and the successful Hooker-Bookers are able to satisfy them by being specific about what they offer. 

A couple of “niches” that they may have to deal with include;

• Dendrophilia - someone having a sexual interest in trees.
• Plushophilia - sexual interest in teddy bears.
• Agalmatophilia - sexual desire for mannequins and statues.
• Mechanophilia – sexual attraction to cars.

Now, as you can imagine the more specific your advertising, the more clients that actually need the type of service you offer will understand exactly what they can expect. Nothing like catering to the wrong fetish to get the clients confused.

• What is your Unique Sales Proposition – what makes you special...?
• Are you catering for a defined niche, or range of niches...?
• Does your marketing promote the niche you excel in...?

Marketing is about filtering, we need to make sure that only prospects who have a need for what you provide actually make contact – if you are the Teddy Bear specialist then say so, it will prevent the Tree Lovers getting confused and disappointed; it will also improve your sales conversion rate.

 4. Positioning – the rules of engagement. Before any services, of the Teddy Bear or otherwise nature are provided, it is really important to establish the boundaries; what is allowed, what is not allowed and how the pricing for services is worked out.

Worldwide, it is thought that prostitution is a $100 Billion business, and although it is by definition unregulated in most of the world, there are common rules and procedures that have been adopted almost universally.
  
In his 1965 publication “Apprenticeships in Prostitution” James H Bryan describes the experiences of 33 call girls entering the business in Los Angeles. The induction training instructed regarding interpersonal behaviour with customers, pitches and sales techniques and how to obtain the maximum fee; the development of an “adequate clientele”
  
In business we rarely have such Apprenticeships, we tend to simply copy what others do and hope for the best, whereas in reality a structured and systemised approach to working with clients would be hugely beneficial. 

• Do you know exactly what your clients expectations are…?
• Is your business systemised such that you and the client know exactly what service to be delivered, and as important what is not…?
• Do your team know what each client wants, are they trained in customer service as well as the technical work they do on behalf of the client…?

Most clients who complain or become disgruntled do so simply because their expectations were not met, and that is likely because their expectations were not established in the first place – it is our responsibility to  

5.Regular Check Ups – health equals wealth.  In 1810 Napoleon insisted that prostitution in the occupied Netherlands be regulated, mainly to protect his soldiers for contracting sexually transmitted diseases rendering them unfit for combat duty. 

Prostitutes were forced to register and undergo mandatory health checks, if they were in the clear they were given a red card as proof, if they were infected they were issued a white card instead and only allowed to work when declared fit.

 How healthy is your business…? 

As the health of people can be checked with a few easy measurements; blood pressure, cholesterol levels, heart rate etc. so can a business. Keeping your business healthy through regular checks on the Key Performance Indicators will ensure that you can keep servicing your clients and not be issued with a white card.  

• What are the key numbers in your business…?
• Have you set targets and objectives for each of them with your team…?
•  Do you measure and review them, and the causes of them on a regular basis…?

Having a budget, forecast and 90 day plan are the very basics when it comes to keeping your business healthy. Each quarter you should know what the objectives are in terms of the results you want to achieve and also the levels of activity you need to undertake in order to ensure they happen – and progress should be reviewed every day if possible.

6. Payment – Sales is Vanity, Profit is Sanity but cash is Reality.  In July 2012 Donna Asutaits was convicted of tax fraud. She had made over £300,000 in less than two years working as a call-girl in London; unfortunately for her she had forgotten that she had to pay tax; she was only caught when police found £73,000 stashed in her flat during a raid.

Lessons we can all learn from Donna are to always get paid (and of course pay our taxes), and that payment up front for services is the ideal – I cannot imagine that anyone using her services would like to receive a statement or request for payment to their home address…
  
When I look at any business I always look in the stock room – these can be physical materials and products stored work in progress, or sales ledger debts. None of us are in the banking business; we are not in the business of loaning money to our clients, if they want money they should talk to their friendly local bank manager - good luck with that...

• Do your measure your debtor days and keep them under control…?
• Is your collection method systemised and understood by your team…?
• Do your terms and conditions give you the strength to collect your money…?

I remember chasing a debt and being told that “every month we put all the bills in a bucket a draw them out for payment until we have no more money left – if you keep chasing yours won’t even make it to the bucket in the first place…”
  
Avoid this situation with great terms and conditions, be clear about late payments and consequences and most of all – be prepared to enforce them. A client is not a client unless they pay you...

 7. The Customer Comes First – no pun intended.  In 2009 Sasha Grey starred as a high class call girl in the movie The Girlfriend Experience, set in the days leading up to the 2008 Presidential Election. 

A Girlfriend Experience, abbreviated to GFE, defines the type of service a client can expect from a call girl. This generally involves more personal interaction with the individual, with a focus on the whole experience rather than just the sex. 
  
So many businesses forget that it is not simply the product or service that is important – it is the context in which it is delivered that makes the difference. We are all in the customer service business, and we need to recognise that relationship and client experience are key factors in building our reputations and client base – being technically competent is not good enough anymore.

• Do you have a customer service charter…?
• How many unsolicited testimonials do you receive...?
• What is the experience of working with you like…?

When describing a purchasing experience, we normally talk about the service we received, not the product itself; context is the emotional justification for a logical purchase, it will also provide the excuse for a client not returning if we don’t manage it.

 8. Repeat Business is Good – safety in numbers. In the USA the murder rate for a prostitute is 204 for every 100,000, making it the most dangerous job in the world. In the 1990’s Melissa Farley and Howard Barkan conducted a study of 130 San Francisco based prostitutes. 

They found that 82% had been physically assaulted, 88% had been physically threatened, and 83% had been threatened with a weapon; when a good safe client is found, it is advisable to hang on to them… 

Safety lies within the predictable, and as much as “regular Johns” are preferred by working girls and guys – so too should we look to keep our regular clients and build long term profitable relationships with them.

• Do you have a customer care program…?
• Do you reward loyalty in your customers and employees…?
• How do you build long term relationships with clients…?

It is said that 80% of marketing expenses are wasted; we just don’t know which 80%; whatever the statistics, marketing and lead generation is the most expensive activity a business can undertake. Much better to keep existing clients and instead of spending on marketing, invest the same amount in building relationships..
 
9. Exit Strategy – paid to leave.  When Charlie Sheen was interviewed about why a man like him would pay for sex, we replied “I don’t pay them for sex I pay them to leave...”

The relationship between the client and the sex worker is by its very nature short term. There is a clear expectation regarding the services to be provided and the payment that will be made in reciprocation, there is also the belief that once the deal has been completed, the relationship is over, the lack of commitment required is a key aspect of the transaction.
  
The walk of shame is almost a rite of passage for college students the world over, a stark reminder of the short attraction spans that lust confuses for us.
  
In Felix Dennis’s excellent book How to get Rich, he suggests that if it Floats, Flies, Feeds or Fornicates – it should be rented not purchased. In business we should take the same approach; getting into business is easy, but getting out is complex.
  
As Steven Covey stated in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Start with the End in Mind. Have an Exit Strategy so you can capitalise on your investment and walk away with your dignity intact.

• Do you have a detailed exit strategy…?
• Is your business “sale ready”…?
• Who will take over from you when you decide to live in Monaco…?

In my experience business owners get too involved in the “ownership” of the business and forget that the reason they got in to business in the first place is to get out of it, or at least it should have been. 
  

For more information on how David can help you in your business drop him a personal email to davidholland@resultsrulesok.com or check out our website at

www.resultsrulesok.com