Every once in a while, someone will ask, “So what do you do?”
And when we answer, “Oh, I’m in sales,” they may say “Ah,” in a slightly disappointed tone. We feel a twinge as their politely curious gaze changes to an expression of guarded skepticism.
Non-sales people often have a strange attitude about sales and salespeople. When we say “sales” they think about used cars. They think about strong-arm techniques and sleazy underhanded tactics. They think about auto-dialers that cold-call their cell phone at dinnertime.
What they don’t think about is where they would probably be without sales professionals.
Everyone supported by income from a corporate, retail, or for-profit company probably depends on sales for their very livelihood. After all, if nobody sold the products and services their company offers, there would be no company to work for.
The Real World of Sales
The truth is that most of us aren’t dealing in used cars. The stereotype of the high-pressure salesman is just as sadly outdated as those sales methods are. Most of us are sales professionals who offer genuine value to our customers. The products and services we sell are intended to help solve problems, keep businesses moving, and enhance lives.
The people who buy from us do so because they have a need, and when we help them reach their goals, everyone benefits. Our customers and their businesses benefit, as do their families, their employees, and their customers. Our own company benefits, and our sales help support the entire organization and all its departments.
Sales are a critical function of business. Whatever the cynics might say, we matter. We make a difference, and we do it by selling.
How To Change Their Minds
The popular image of salespeople can only improve to the extent that we have improved. We are certainly better than that image, and we can prove it to them, but they have to experience a sales interaction with a consultative sales professional before they will rethink their ideas.
The consultative approach to sales is based on three principles:
1. The customer has a need, and our job is to help them meet it.
We’re not just there to make a sale. Our first goal is to find out what the customer’s pain points are. The more we can uncover about their problems, concerns, issues, and goals, the more we will understand their needs and the better we will be able to help them.
This means that we ask lots of questions and really listen to the customer’s answers. We try to understand what their situation is before we start offering options for a solution.
2. We will do everything we can to find an appropriate, complete, and beneficial solution for the customer’s problem.
Rather than pushing to sell our most profitable offering or trying to talk them into features they don’t really need, we do our best to match our solutions to the actual needs the customer has expressed.
Offering an optimal solution is not only best for the customer, but it’s best for us. A customer who is truly satisfied with their purchase comes back again and brings others with them. Helping the customer select the best solution leads to more sales.
3. We work to develop a positive relationship with the customer.
Customer satisfaction and loyalty are important concerns for most businesses. One of the reasons used-car salesman have a bad rap is that they aren’t counting on selling to the same person more than once.
In the business world, though, a dissatisfied customer is a lost customer – and with the dawn of social media, online reviews, and industry chatrooms, our customers are more networked than ever. If our customers are unhappy with their salesperson or their purchase, other potential customers are going to hear about it.
Building good relationships with customers is a crucial factor in engendering customer loyalty, because ultimately, the customer isn’t buying from our company – they buy from US. A sales professional the customer can trust is worth a lot, both to the customer and to the salesperson’s organization.
Apply these principles to your selling endeavors, and not only will you sell more, you’ll make believers out of your customers. And maybe the next time they find out a new acquaintance is a sales professional, they won’t look askance or try to change the subject.
Changing minds about sales, one customer at a time.
Baker Communications offers leading edge sales training solutions for sales makers and sales managers that will help you address the goals and achieve the outcomes addressed in this article. For more information about how your organization can achieve immediate and lasting behavior change that will uncover new opportunities, drive revenue, and boost your bottom line, click here.
