Mahatma Gandhi said: “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption on our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider on our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so”.
Salespeople need to remember that it takes ages for a prospective customer to give us their precious time, but it could take mere seconds for them to leave. The slot that you have to make your mark on a person and either make or break the deal is up to you. Salesmen do think of this – and that is why they tend to be sick with verbal diarrhea when they get a chance to talk. All the top salesmen say something that is technically in opposition to sales: you need to listen more than you speak. It is one thing to make a sale and move on and a totally different thing to make the customer want to stay with your company after the transaction is complete.
Dr. Maya Angelou said: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Anybody, be it an acquaintance or your client, wants to feel special. That is how human nature works. It is highly likely that customers would go for an inferior product just because the salesperson spoke to them with respect, listened to what the customer had to say and made them feel special. You need to look at a situation from the other person’s point of view. If they don’t see how something is going to work for them then you need to be the one to gracefully inform them about why your product benefits their life by speaking from their vantage point.
Among the scrolls of great advice that Sir Richard Branson has doled out, is that we need to exceed expectations of our clients without boasting about it.
To quote Richard Branson: “The key is to set realistic customer expectations and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them – preferably in unexpected and helpful ways”.
When we go the extra mile, we are portraying to our customers that we are not here to just seal the deal and walk away, but that we also genuinely care about them. A valuable insight is to get acquainted with your client first by asking personal questions and being genuine with your concern. They will know that they are important and stick with the company for longer.
If you talk to any customer service executive, they will let you know that the top complaint that customers have is that the salesperson does not LISTEN. All your customers are not the same – in fact each person is unique, has their own quirks and personality and just wants to be HEARD. Keep this in mind the next time you go ahead and try to make a sale.
For a more in-depth look into sales mistakes, read this article on The 10 Biggest Mistakes in Sales by Entrepreneur.com.
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