Selling is an art. There are good artists, not-so-good artists, and some downright stinkers. I’ve spent most of my adult life in sales of one sort or another, and after all these years I am still astonished at some of the truly awful salespeople I meet. Let me give you a couple of examples.
One salesman, whom I’ve known for about a year now, sells for a local newspaper and it’s obvious he’s either never received sales training, or slept through any he did receive. It amazes me that he is still selling newspaper advertising. His technique is awful! His basic selling techniques is to talk your ear off about his problems.
For example, he recently left me a panicky voicemail – he needed to speak to me RIGHT AWAY! This sounded serious, so against my better judgement I called.
What was the crisis? He’d seen one of my client’s advertise in a competitor’s paper and wanted to tell me what a terrible choice we’d made advertising in that paper. After five minutes of bashing the competition, he proceeded to further annoy me by lamenting over how he’d been out sick quite a bit and had fallen behind on his sales.
Bottom line: I should advertise my client’s business with his paper because…I feel sorry for him?? After he just insulted my decision-making abilities? I don’t think so! There are too many other venues available that offer effective advertising, and his paper isn’t the only game in town!
Another very unprofessional habit of a bad salesperson is interrupting the customer who wants to talk about their business. I saw this happen several times with a salesman I used to work with and it blew my mind every time! This salesman was so focused on bragging about his product, or worse himself, that he threw away a golden opportunity to uncover infomation critical to closing the sale.
A good salesperson is always supremely interested in what the customer has to say. By listening to the customer, the salesperson can discover opportunities for meeting the client’s needs. Only then can you demonstrate how, or why, your product is the solution to their problems.
What I would tell anyone who demonstrates either of these bad habits is – Hey! It’s not about you! The customer couldn’t care less about your problems, or sales goals, or anything else. Wise up and learn to put the customer first. Listen to them, understand what they are saying, and take the time to show that you care about them.
If you can demonstrate to the customer that you hear what they are saying, and have their best interests at heart, you will win their trust, their loyalty and their business.