Here's a short story about the difference between selling and meeting customer needs. One of our team bought a new car recently. In the end she got the deal she wanted, but left feeling dissatisfied and uncertain about visiting that dealership ever again. In truth the deal could have been done in about 15 minutes. Our colleague had done her research, knew her budget and had identified a specific car she wanted to buy. All the dealer needed to do was give her a test drive in the new car, give her a price for her current vehicle and then do the paperwork. Job done. The deal took nearly 90 minutes, 75 minutes longer than was necessary. Much of this extra time was taken up with the salesman leaving to deal with other customers. Sure, they may have been short-staffed, but the numerous 'Back in 5 minutes' promises soon started to wear thin when it became evident that '5 minutes' was a label for any time period longer than this. Lack of product knowledge, inconsistent information and poor customer service, including after-sales support (which involved an extra trip back to the dealer to collect a missing part, plus attempts by the dealer to renegotiate on price and a correction to the money drawn from our colleague's account) all led to a feeling of frustration. In addition, the salesman seemed intent on giving the buyer his 'sales script' rather than tuning in to the real needs expressed by the customer.
How can it be that a customer can get the deal they want yet leave with a negative experience? Two oft-quoted phrases in sales training are 'People buy people first' and 'A customer buys on emotion and justifies with logic'. This story illustrates just how important it is for the sales person to pay attention to the relationship and the emotional impact of his/her behaviour. Truly listening to the customer, making them feel valued and responding to their needs will cause the customer to leave feeling satisfied with the deal they have struck and with a good impression of their experience which they may pass on to friends and family. You could argue that the salesman got what he wanted - a sale. But what about all the add-ons? Servicing? Future sales? Recommendations to others? Or as in this case, recounting a less than positive story to others. (People tend to tell many more people about their bad experiences than they do their positive ones).
Selling is a skill not a technique. Real selling is about identifying customer's needs, having the acuity to notice what the customer is responding to and then having the flexibility to adopt a complementary approach.
Post up your stories (good or bad) of your own sales experiences!
Miles
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