All too often, we vaguely picture a sales encounter in our head as a one-sided battle to the death where one party is “hustled” into making a purchase he/she really doesn’t want to.
When you look up salesman on Urban Dictionary you find words and descriptions like:
- Fraud
- Cheater
- Hustler
- Jackwagon
I’m not exactly sure what that last one means but it certainly doesn’t sound good to me! Surely this idea of a sketchy, defrauding, manipulative, double-crossing “jackwagon” comes to mind when the everyday person ponders the idea of a salesman. However, generally speaking, this may not be the case with ALL salespeople. The ideal salesperson can be a principled and ethically sound person who genuinely cares for both your needs and the company’s as well.
For these people, sales is not a confrontation; it’s an opportunity to sense the areas of resistance/pain, find common ground, drive these points home to the buyer, and then redirect the discussion in the way that will close the sale.
Bonding and rapport along with these tips are essential to the sales process and the heart of discussion on this blog. Following these tips will allow your buyer to do what he wants, rather than what you want. But you’re the one getting paid at the end of the day, so letting the customer have what they want is an absolute necessity. In essence, you win without fighting.
This not only closes the deal, but sets up repeat sales!
Happy Selling!
~Zach B.
BoweryJE22
You make a good point about letting the customer do what he/she wants. I can imagine it being hard at times to focus on mainly what the customer wants especially when you may being payed commission. But like you said it is so important to understand the customer’s needs and wants because it may lead to even more business.