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Nobody Likes a Sales Bully
By Michael S. Finn, RRP
Confidence is great, but please do not confuse it with arrogance. If you allow your
confidence to run over to the point that customers feel intimidated, you are losing sales right now. Years ago
this approach was met with some success. The customer did not have as much information or sales resistance savvy.
Now with television, newspapers and the dreaded (yet loved) Internet, customers are well armed to combat those
old sales techniques. Intimidation does not work today.
Here is an example of a sales bully.
You are the customer. You just had a very successful business lunch. Brimming with confidence and
wearing your "lucky" business suit, you find yourself with a half hour to kill. So you check out the
fine clothier that happens to be on Park Avenue next to the restaurant. First you notice the quality of the clothes
and brace yourself for sticker shock, but think to yourself I deserve another "lucky" suit. The adventure
starts with the salesperson on the phone making no sign to acknowledge your existence or worth. When he finally
breaks away from his riveting conversation with a potential Saturday night date, he gives off the air that you
just interrupted a presidential summit meeting. Once he saunters over he eyes your favorite and "lucky"
suit with disdain and says "no wonder you're looking for a new suit." He than dissects your suit and
explains the shoddy workmanship and inferior material. Than he barely has enough interest level in you to show
you the price or fit of a new suit.
Two things happen. First, you and what is left of your self esteem walk out without a new "lucky"
suit. Next you feel so jaded regarding your suit that you just may never wear it again. Now let’s look at the same
scenario with a more customer centric approach.
You walk into the same clothier after your power lunch and you are promptly and pleasantly greeted. Your
salesperson asks you what your interests are (not needs, I will explain in my next column). He even compliments
your taste in clothes. Now he directs you to a display of beautiful suits. He then tells you that if you like the
suit that you are wearing you will feel like Donald Trump (or Ivana) in this suit. Once your confidence is boosted
properly you as a consumer you are easy to steer. From there you are maxing out your credit card with the purchase
of a new "lucky" suit.
This sounds like a much better sales experience for all involved. If so, why do we not sell this way? I have
trained salespeople for nearly 15 years now and I always ask people to use themselves as a model. In other words,
sell the way you want to be sold. I kind of stole that from your mother when she told you to treat people as you
want to be treated. It worked in school yard as well as it can work today.
For this reason I propose to you to take the high road.
- Greet your clients promptly and pleasantly.
- Do a proper warm-up and discovery to learn the guests interests (not needs). There is a reason God gave you
two ears and only one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk.
- If your guest owns at another resort, let them know what a great thing they did and what a wonderful compliment
your product would be.
- Reinforce their vacation experiences and show them how much better their experience would be with your product.
- If your product offers more benefits than normal vacation packages, do not talk down their choices, just show
them a better way.
Take a look at your next happy owner and ask yourself how did they get that way. My guess is that:
- They felt good about you.
- You built a strong rapport.
- They felt like they made a good informed decision.
- Most of all, you let them feel good about themselves.
I know this form of sales is a little too warm and fuzzy for some, I am not saying that a good sales executive
is not tenacious, you can be. Drive hard for every sale. Just do it in such a way that people leave feeling good
about you and the company.
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