Every Sale is Different
One of the biggest rookie mistakes I see salespeople make, is they try to treat every client the same. This reminds me of two stories, one of my own and one from a sales seminar I attended.
The trainer related that he was in Atlanta making sales calls. When he arrived at his first appointment, he discovered all this guy wanted to do was talk about the Braves winning the World Series. He went on for an hour or more talking about the Braves, his family, and the kids. The salesman, (let’s call him Bob) was getting nervous because he had another appointment to get to and he was attempting to play it cool but could not help keeping an eye on the clock. Then they end up going out to lunch! Bob's anxiety was only increasing as this appointment went well past what he expected. When they get to office the client said, “Hey, I've really enjoyed seeing today. Thanks for hanging out with me. So, you have a contract or something to sign right?” - “Yeah.” - “Do you have it with you?” Bob hands him the contract, he signs it and hands it back.
Bob then sped across town barely making it to the next appointment. Sitting in the lobby, catching his breath, he can hear his prospective customer down the hall, and she was chewing out some guy, I mean really torching him.
He’s thinking, “Oh boy, this is not going to go well.” Suddenly she appeared from around the corner and looks at him and says his name “Are you Bob?” - “Yes.” Immediately she turned around, without saying a word and walked back toward her office.
For a moment Bob was not sure what to do, but he got up and followed her.
“Do you have the contract?”
“Yes, right here.”
She looked it over. “This is everything?”
“Yes.”
“And this is the price.”
“Yes.” she signs it, hands it back to him. “Thank you very much.” Bob was out the door.
“What I learned from that, Bob told us, was if I would have tried to force the first guy to sign the contract, I'd never got the order, because all he wanted to do was talk. He was a talker and he wanted to be friends and he wanted to eat, and he wanted his enjoy himself. The guy had already decided on the purchase. His second appointment had also made up her mind before I had arrived, but if I would have tried BS her, talk about the Braves and so on, she would have thrown me out. You couldn't find two more complete opposite clients and I had them back-to- back. And it made me realized every sale is different. You must learn to read the customer.”
Roger's Rule #3
Learn to be pliable.
You must allow the client to approach you on their terms with their needs and questions. If at-all-possible, make building relationships your first objective – then you do not have to sell anything.
I compare Bob’s story from one of my own experiences. I was the customer and was meeting with your typical Sales Rep. He had this gigantic binder with all the stuff that he sold. He sat down across from me and my assistant and began flipping through all the pages. All the time talking rather unenthusiastically about all these things he had to offer, “we have this, and we have that and the other, blah, blah, blah.”
I'm sitting there looking at my watch like, okay, anytime. So finally, he says, “Well, is there anything I can help you with?”
“Not today, thanks.” So, he left, and I turned to my assistant and said, “I'm not a salesman but that is the dumbest salesman I've ever seen in my life”.
Why did I say that?
It is simple, not once did he ever ask me what I was doing or ask about my potential needs. If he would have, I would have saved both of us a lot of time. Taking the time to get to know your potential customer, their needs, interests, and pain points, can save a lot of time and wasted effort. And if it ends up that you don't have something that can help them then say, “Gee, I'm really sorry. I don't think I can help you with that, maybe next time.” And get on your way. In the end, you will earn their respect because you are not playing games and trying to sell them something they don't need.
