I’ve often wondered why salespeople have such a hard time asking questions that dig deeply enough to understand what their customers want. I’ve seen consultants do the same thing. The danger is that we make assumptions and then propose the wrong solution. Because the customer either recognizes immediately that it won’t work or maybe tries it before discovering it doesn’t work, we’ve lost credibility and trust.
Among the many reasons I’ve discovered for not asking enough questions, is that people are afraid of looking stupid when asking questions. When you operate from a heart-centered, soft sell sales and marketing viewpoint, it should make sense that you want to come across sincere and trustworthy. You do this largely by taking time to ask the questions for understanding. [...]
My client looked at me really strangely when I spoke to him about passion for his products. He was a businessman who manufactured hair and personal care products. This was a business in his mind, not a love affair. But we were talking about passion from different viewpoints. I reminded him of the enthusiasm they had for the unsolicited customer testimonials they receive. He and his adult sons agreed then. Frankly, few things are as attractive in a salesperson as passion and excitement, provided the prospect is ready to listen to his passion.
And therein lays the critical point. If you push your enthusiasm on a prospect before that person is ready to listen, you come across as a hard sell salesperson. Your potential buyer may visit a few minutes longer before leaving, probably for good. On the other hand, if you demonstrate that you care about the customer’s concerns first, ask questions and probe to understand better, without rushing into the product, you are demonstrating a soft sell sales approach. People want you to care about what they really need and want before you try to sell them. If you do this, you will be able to help customers [...]
I’ve had a dream of speaking about love in sales for a couple of years now, but frankly the topic scares me a little. I mean we’ve seen Presidents of the United States and U.S. Congressmen brought to task for love in the workplace. Most recently the golf icon, Tiger Woods felt compelled to apologize for love outside his home. So while I whole heartedly believe in the importance of love in sales, it’s not that kind of love.
The problem with English is that many words like love had radically different meanings. In Latin, amor relates to a more physical or sexual love while caritas is the root for our English word charity and so ties in to spiritual love or an unselfish love for others. So when I talk about love in sales, I mean that heart-centered, soft sell sales and marketing requires a base of caring for others enough to put their interests ahead of your personal gain long enough to find out what they need and want, what their problems and desires are, what they expect the outcome to be. Provided you can help them, then you do so. This kind of love is related to the expression often associated with the Hippocratic Oath, “First, do no harm.” [...]
I had forgotten that people may interpret soft sell sales as an effort to succeed simply on the power of one’s great personality. Jim Sniechowski in his recent blog post, Soft Sell Marketing Misconceptions – A Dime a Dozen, mentioned misconceptions about soft sell. Among these is the flaw in thinking that soft sell sales is about personality. This false image produces the erroneous idea that soft sell salespeople are limited to sales to prospects who already know they wanted to buy that product or service.
I can appreciate how someone might think that soft sell means personality. Unfortunately, regardless of your approach, whether traditional, hard sell or the rising in popularity heart-centered, soft sell one, sales success takes proactive work. True heart-centered, soft sell sales success has little or nothing to do with having a likable personality. [...]
After our recent switch from DSL to cable service for Internet, I feel a kinship with Charles H. Green’s comments in “Killing Trust with Measurements and Rewards,” in Trust-Based Selling. Green describes how the pharmaceutical industry has been increasing sales representatives while their effectiveness keeps dropping.
Among the problems they have is that as their sales force gets younger and younger, the expertise of their representatives declines. Doctors are seeing these representatives as “pill pushers” rather than as knowledgeable advisors and consultants. Why should they bother wasting precious time they could spend with patients to see salespeople who only care about their own metrics, i.e. how many scripts are written for their products. This is definitely a hard sell approach to sales.
Before you attempt to measure your customer service effectiveness, put yourself in the place of your customers. You build trust by demonstrating understanding of their problems and acting to solve them, not having the computer call for a customer service survey.Take the soft sell sales and marketing approach of listening and then guiding them to the right solution for their wants and needs. Make sure it works. A partial solution only serves to generate hostility towards you and your products and services. Done right, selling – and customer service – can be fun, fulfilling and mutually [...]
Strange as it sounds, soft sell sales and marketing are, in some ways, tougher to do than hard sell because they require the self-discipline to focus on the concerns of others, and they require caring enough about others to delay your gratification of “closing” the sale. You must wait to describe how wonderful your products and services are until the customers are satisfied that you know and understand what their problems and/or desires are. When you have earned their trust by listening and by asking meaningful questions showing you want to understand better, they will be open and receptive to your advice. This is natural because now they feel you care about them, not just their wallets. Then, when they are ready, you can help your customers buy. [...]
I’m a big believer in walking the talk. Yesterday, however, I asked my client how I did. What he told me was eye opening, and my ego would have preferred to not have gotten the answer. Despite the soft sell sales training I do in which I stress using questions to understand before selling, I almost allowed my passion blind me to what my client wanted.
Actually, we’d had a great session. We were talking about sales and marketing activities he can take to grow their business in these tough times in one of the hardest hit industries in America: apparel. I was teaching him about the soft sell sales approach to selling: get to know the customer’s concerns and interests, her issues.
We also chatted about how difficult it is to get to the buyers these days. And that’s where my own passion overrode my listening skills. [...]
When I’m consulting with clients on soft sell sales and marketing, I come alive. I absolutely love training people on how to improve their sales and marketing effectiveness. I really think that a career in sales is fun, fulfilling, and mutually rewarding when you help customers buy.
At the same time, it is work, lots of work. Nor is it a get-rich-quick scheme. A career in soft sell sales offers a lifestyle of hard work rewarding success with much more than money. [...]
While I was reading Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture that my son and his family gave me for my birthday, I came to the 12th chapter, “The Park Is Open Until 8 p.m.” I didn’t pay close attention to the title until I got into the chapter where Randy said (on p. 62), “Ask Disney World workers: ‘What time does the park close?’ They’re supposed to answer: ‘ The park is open until 8 p.m.”
Wow! Such a little change yet it has such a different feeling. The emphasis is on the positive viewpoint, “open.” This immediately reminded me of numerous terms used in sales and marketing that put a negative approach. Soft sell salespeople and soft sell marketers look to treat prospects and customers with respect. We can change many of our standard terms in sales and marketing so as to give our subconscious the right [...]
Two weekends ago I was fascinated when I was visiting my son to see how he disciplined his daughter. His approach was an incredible demonstration of the power of WIIFM. It really doesn’t matter whether you’re in sales & marketing or management or just trying to convince your child to change her behavior, the key question is “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM)
So when you want people to seriously consider what you are proposing to them, speak to them in terms of their interests and concerns. In sales and marketing jargon, talk or write about the benefits. Go beyond the idea of benefits being that people buy drills to make holes.
I propose that as a soft sell salesperson or soft sell marketer you can go a step further in discovering their motivation. Why are they mounting or building something that requires a drill? While the potential reasons are numerous, discovering the specific reasons shows you care about them. You can then focus your presentation on the benefits your products and services provide that mean something to them. You can help customers buy. Moreover, you will find it leads to relationships that make sales fun, fulfilling and mutually [...]
|
Invitation to Opt-in for Free Ecourse
Testimonial for Bonus “9 Steps to Finding Prospects” “These 9 Steps to Finding Prospects Who Want What You Provide are exactly what I need at this point in the startup & growth of my business. Keep them coming.
“I now see that the Sales Consultant website I suggested you look at was slanted too much toward "what he can do", even though he claims to be a Sales guru. Last time I looked at it there was "too much to read" as well.”
Dave (last name withheld at client’s request)
Business Coach & Consultant
Testimonial – CMTC Senior Consultant I have thanked you many times for the quality of reports that you provide to my clients. I truly feel you are adding value to the SMA - Program but more to my own job as a Consultant and point of contact to our clients. I really hope you will never lose your inspiration in performing outstandingly on providing the best quality you can offer to others.
Paula Bahamón
Sr. Consultant
CMTC - Los Angeles Region
Grid Controls Testimonial Dear John:
Our meeting on Thursday, April 23rd, was an uplifting experience, and you gave us hope that we can implement the marketing techniques discussed. We were especially pleased with the simple, yet effective ideas you gave us for improving our website and broadening our marketing capabilities.
Sincerely,
Gary Richards,
President
|
Recent Comments