Friday, April 30, 2010

Behind Every Sale Is a Person

Behind every sale is a person. You may call this person your customer or client, but regardless of what you call them, they matter in whether your business flourishes or flounders, survives or sinks, makes a profit or plummets in sales. . If you constantly keep this thought in mind you will do well in whatever people business you find to occupy your time. Every person with whom you interact wants these things.

I love what Spencer Johnson, M.D. and Larry Wilson wrote in their powerful little book called The One Minute Sales Person.
“People buy for their reasons, not ours.
People buy for how a product or service makes them feel.
People buy for prestige and a sense of empowerment.
People buy for added value.
People buy because you help them get what they want.
People buy for the good feelings they want about what they bought.
People buy trust and service.”
(The One Minute Sales Person, Spencer Johnson, M.D. and Larry Wilson)

People buy for their reasons, not ours.
I had preferences on the feel of certain mattresses when I sold them, but often customers had their own preferences when making their choices. I could tell them all of the data that mattered in how mattresses are constructed and how they felt, but people bought for their own tastes and preferences, not mine. Remember this always.

People buy for how a product or service makes them feel.
Feel is such a personal matter, but the bottom line is that it really does boil down to how a customer feels and if they can see themselves using a particular product. I remember selling a mattress to a lady simply because it had a Fur Elise pattern in the quilting layer.

People buy for prestige and a sense of empowerment.
How many people buy the same kind of golf clubs as Tiger Woods? Products that are successfully marketed use power words and phrases and popular personalities to promote these products simply because of the power of prestige.

People buy for added value.
What else will your product do for me? Will I be more handsome? More desirable? Will I attract that all important job by wearing your clothes? What attributes can you bring in that will let people know about the added value your products or services bring to the table?

People buy because you help them get what they want.
You help get what they want by listening, looking and observing body language, expressions and hearing the spoken and non-spoken hints that your customers give away. Speak in terms of the other person’s wants and needs is basic to relating to people.

People buy for the good feelings they want about what they bought.
People want a good value for their money spent. If you show them value and quality, be very clear in telling the story of that particular product. Sell benefits. People want a good deal but they want great quality.

People buy trust and service.”
In case you haven’t noticed, there are some less-than-ethical sales people in the workforce today. Customers want to be able to trust you, but they have been burned too many times and their trust factor is shot. I often have to work hard during the first twenty minutes of a sales presentation simply earning my customers trust. I have to present myself as knowledgeable, and I have to come across as sincere, trustworthy and someone who shows that I can be trusted. I want to enter into a partnership with my customers, not just a salesman/customer relationship. I can be your biggest ally if you’ll allow me to help you.

What are your attitudes toward your customers?

Behind every sale is a person. And that person wants respect and to be made to feel important.

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