Sometimes Selling Is Like Being A Parent
Once, long ago, in a galaxy far away, someone said that once you’re a salesperson, you’ll always be a salesperson.
It’s kinda like being a parent. Once you have a little soul to watch over, you’ll never be able to think of yourself first again.
Even when those little souls turn 21, you still see a 2 year-old.
Customers are like 2 year-olds … on occasion, so sometimes you have to treat them as such.
I’m now going to reveal a “secret” sales technique that nobody has ever written about before … or at least not on this blog 
The Secret To Treating Customers Like 2 Year-olds
First off, we as salespeople, always think we know exactly what the customer needs and exactly what to say to them to “persuade” or “convince” them of their need for our product or service.
We’re not always right about either of those truths.
Like 2 year-olds, customers like to ask “Why?”.
“Why is your product better than the one I’ve been buying, at a better price, for 13 months?”
“Why should I drop my current supplier, whose kids go to camp with my kids, just to save 1/2 of 1%?”
“Why do I care that your conductor surges 3 times as often as the one we’re using, which causes us no problems?”
No matter how brilliantly you answer those questions, or any others they might ask, you’ll never convince them of a truth they don’t want to believe, no matter how many facts or figures you may have.
So how do you get them to drink your kool-aid?
Just ask them the same question they ask you.
Why?
How’s that work? Kinda like this:
When you’re just short of the big finish, you’ve unloaded all of your big guns and you’re waiting for some type of movement, anything, from the customer and all you get is …
“Why?”
I turn it right back at them and ask …
“Why do you think?”
If you’ve done all your due diligence and you’ve found their points of pain and proven that you have a solution that will save them money, time, personnel or whatever it was that makes them tick, then you’ll hear the answer that you should have given if you’d answered the question.
If they don’t give that answer, stop, go back to the place that you lost them or they lost you and try to do a better job this time. Because if you force them to answer right now, you hear a resounding NO.
Any questions?
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Mike,
Absolutely … let them answer the themselves, especially if they’ve been asking a crazy amount of detail-oriented questions.
My only concern is asking them “Why do you think?” without it coming out sarcastic or negative?
I’ve had excellent success when people ask me what they would get out of my service by asking them “What are you looking for?” Sometimes I’ll soften it when I’m about to ask a question in response to their question. “Not to avoid your question, but …?”
How do you ask them Why back without sounding snappy?
No that I’m above snappy, Beth, but …
… I’ll always make sure to have a smile that borders on a smirk and act like I know a secret that they know too and see if they will play along and tell the secret just to prove that they knew it.
If they happen to be humorless and not want to play along, I’ll go ahead and give my answer.
As you already know, a big part of sales success is thinking on your feet and being light on your toes, not to be shifty or sly, but just to the point of being able to adjust and adapt.
I see that you work with Chamber folks, so you were well aware of all of that already, but I wanted to be clear that I’m not a smart ass, nor am I a greasy, Herb Tarlek-type
Never be afraid to sound or look interested to a customer. The more you ask about them and the less you talk about you, the more at ease they’ll feel to talk straight and not lie to you, as they are used to doing.
We, as sales people, have historically caused the customer to lie to us, thru our behavior. They’re used to it and it takes some effort to cause them to feel like we’re there for them and not for us.
The more of that you can convey, the better your chance at success.
Thanks for asking and for taking time to come by and comment. Please come back and do it again some time !
I see that you’re into networking, so I’ll point you toward the best that I know – Thom Singer.
I appreciate the clarification. I see what you mean … it’s just hard to put those nuances in the written word.
Thanks for the referral to Thom, I already subscribe and greatly appreciate his writings.
You’re right Beth, it is hard to put this into written form. I should have added an audio file to this one.
I’ll get that done ASAP.
Thanks agion for taking time to comment.
I think if you use a “softening statement” first before you return the question you will be alright.
“That an interesting question Bill. Only you the customer would really know the answer to that one. So Bill, let me ask you based on what we have talked about, why do you think we are better than your current supplier?”
For the most part, I like that Joe. A Lot.
I’m only a little hesitant to bring up other suppliers.
I’d say by the time you use it 5 times, you’ll know which version works best for you and for them.
Test. Test. And then test some more.
Thanks for making the discussion a little better.
We’re like hikers around here:
Leave the campsite better than it was when you found it.
Mike,
Good point about bringing up competitors. Let’s try it this way….
THEM; “Why is your product better than the one I’ve been buying, at a better price, for 13 months?”
YOU: “That an interesting question Bill. Only you the customer would really know the answer to that one. So Bill, let me ask you based on what we have talked about, why do you think we are better?”
There you go Mike, how’s that? That’s called learning in real time.
That’s better Joe.
What I’m after here is to get them to verbalize the benefit or solution that arrived at after we have, as a team, solved their problem or made their situation more livable.
This is for that last “Why?”, not the first.
And I’ve got to have done my due diligence.
If I’ve got nothing for them here, I need to be quiet, not confident.
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Thanks Authority. Feel free to drop by and link bomb me again some time