Self-less Selling by Coach Casey
Tuesday, June 17th 2008 @ 11:31 AM
Member of NCST & Sales Coach, Speaker & Expert
Casey’s blog: Self-less Selling
"Selling with the customer in mind"
I read somewhere that the origin of the word “sales” means “service.” In the Middle Ages, salespeople indeed embodied service. They bartered, sold door to door and build their reputations by word of mouth. If something broke, they fixed it. They lived by their word.
What about now? During a recent significant purchase, did you feel “served?” I’m not talking about a latte at Starbucks. Maybe you bought an article of clothing, or an electronic gadget. Did you feel as if the sales person made you the most important focus during your interaction? Did you feel honored, knowing that you would return to the store again, and that you would recommend the sales person? Or did you feel that you “had to have that pair of boots, but you’d never deal with that sales rep again?”
I felt compelled to talk about the service of sales after a vacuum cleaner rep left my home in a huff. He rang my bell, uninvited, on a Sunday afternoon. I was lounging on my couch but wanted to see what his game was like. He and an assistant spent an hour showing me how much dirt their machine picked up by displaying it on white sheets of paper. It turned out I did like the vacuum cleaner but thought it was too pricey for my needs.
He pressed on, drawing up different financial scenarios. When I said, “No” rather definitively, he got angry. He washed his dirt filters in my sink and slammed my screen door while he exited. I couldn’t figure out what buying signals this guy had been reading because I sure didn’t emit any. Did he figure that just because he ran some numbers past me that I was a sure close?
As for me, I couldn’t believe people were still selling the way he tried to pitch me. He didn’t ask me a single question about how I might use the machine. He knew I had a dog; there was a great reason to have a superior vacuum cleaner! But he didn’t ask me about dog hair. He didn’t ask me about the beautiful wood floors that are in every room except the bathroom. Asking me about those floors might have uncovered a desire to keep them beautiful…but he missed that boat too.
As long as salespeople are bent on doing a demonstration and not asking questions, more than a few of their interactions will turn out like this one…with a frustrated sales person and an unheard customer.
Have the courage to be different. Be wildly curious about your prospect’s situation. Ask ridiculously simple questions. Put your ego aside and focus on being interested, not being interesting. You’ll solve more problems than you could ever imagine, and get more sales.
Happy selling!
Selling should not hurt either you or your customer! Make every interaction “pain-free!”
Casey Carpenter
Creating Sales Champions
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