Conferences are great places to go to see how others are approaching your marketplace.Last month I attended one such jamboree and was shocked at the depths that some people seem to have reached.
If there’s a choice between presenting yourself as honest and trustworthy, or as a slimy second-hand car dealer (my apologies to car dealers), then why on earth would someone go to the trouble of making themselves look so totally dishonest. I just don’t get it.
While some clients get mesmerised by bright shiny things, whatever happened to a good solid deal, delivering ‘what it says it delivers on the tin’. The reason that some salespeople are so totally over the top must be for one of several reasons:
- They are desperate for the sale – ie they don’t care about you, the customer
- They think this is what you want - ie they don’t understand you, the customer
Either way I suggest you walk past these individuals and do not fall for their cheap gimmicks. As my dear grandma would tell shopkeepers and tradesmen on a regular basis, “I don’t believe or trust you… and so I won’t be buying from you”. Scarily it sounds a bit like Deborah Meaden from The Dragons’ Den. If it was good enough for her (my grandmother) then it should be good enough for you.
Winning the sale is all about creating a relationship and developing trust.
Anything you do to damage or abuse that trust will be bad for business. Look at every single thing you do (website, blog, packaging, the way you answer the phone) and ask yourself whether it instills a sense of trust (or distrust!) on the part of your potential customer!
What could you do better? What must you do better?
12 comments:
100% the answer is
"- They are desperate for the sale – ie they don’t care about you, the customer
- They think this is what you want - ie they don’t understand you, the customer"
This selfishness and greed is what gives salesmen (and entrepreneurs by default) a bad name
What the web designers etc don't understand is this relationship. You need to create the feeling of trust between both parties to make a succesful sale. Do not confuse a transaction with a relationship. One can last forever. The other is a fleeting moment.
We need to audit our sales process but through the customer's eyes. And that is a little tricky. How do we know how good we are? The simple answer is that you have to ask them. But even then you are not sure unless you are talking to the right people. So we need to decide who we want to be selling to and then talk to them to find out whether we are putting out the right message. Are they hearing the message that we think we are communicating?
I have challenged my sales team to 'up the stakes' and get their act together.
Peter
Peter E
Your answer may be a little simplistic. Maybe a trifle naive. How do you draw real and relevant information from the process? I think that it will be easier said than done.
I feel that a lot of the solutions would be the result of going on one of the better NLP programmes.
As mentioned elsewhere,why do people insist on "plugging" themselves and turning off anyone who might be vaguely intelligent. Be less self-serving.
Trust is what it is all about.
This is not the stuff that you get in the MBA programme. Business schools can give you a more thorough grounding. Interesting but not relevant or theoretically sound..
Yvonne
I am an IFA. We used to sell insurance now we offer advice. Once it was wham, bam, thank you, now it is about long term relationships. We have seen a seismic change in our business over the last ten years in particular and the client acquisition process has changed hugely as a result, BUT we now have close to 100% retention - something I used to dream about.
It is interesting that this is a process that seems to be affecting so many markets...
I am an IFA. We used to sell insurance now we offer advice. Once it was wham, bam, thank you, now it is about long term relationships. We have seen a seismic change in our business over the last ten years in particular and the client acquisition process has changed hugely as a result, BUT we now have close to 100% retention - something I used to dream about.
It is interesting that this is a process that seems to be affecting so many markets...
Trust is what it is all about.
What the web designers etc don't understand is this relationship. You need to create the feeling of trust between both parties to make a succesful sale. Do not confuse a transaction with a relationship. One can last forever. The other is a fleeting moment.
Post a Comment