There are many nasty stereotypes about salespeople. Unfortunately, for many people when they hear the word salesperson, they think of the annoying, overly talkative, pushy salesperson who will do whatever it takes to close a deal. Many people associate salespeople with untruthfulness and deception and unfortunately there is a reason for these stereotypes. While most salespeople are not like this at all, there are a few who are who tend to tarnish the view of all salespeople. Some companies, especially in the past, even teach their sales employees deceptive “techniques” to close sales no matter what.
Something that has been especially emphasized in Professor Sweet’s class is the importance of honesty and genuine care for your customers needs and pains. Truly caring for who you are selling to and being completely honest is crucial to the process of selling, even if this means not trying to sell to them at all. In class, we learned that if you truly don’t think you have something that will benefit your customer, it is important not to push what you are selling on to them. It is better to recommend them something that will benefit them even if it means no sale for you. However, by doing this you are building trust with this customer which can result in future sales and them referring other people to you, which could ultimately result in even more sales than you would have if you had pushed an unneeded product or service on to them. If selling is done correctly, it should be a win for everyone involved.
testacr22
This is a great point, Oliver! I think it comes down to playing the long game, sometimes doing what’s best for the customer involves a sacrifice on the salesperson, but by building that trust and relationship, you’ll be more successful in the long run.
Oliver,
You make a lot of great points. The most important one was “Truly caring for who you are selling to and being completely honest is crucial to the process of selling, even if this means not trying to sell to them at all.” This is a tough pill to swallow for salespeople but is so true. Great article!
This idea of cultivating customer relationships to grow your future sales potential, generating loyalty, and just being a decent person has concrete merit! I can think of several times where I have referred potential customers elsewhere or redirected them to the service they actually need rather than trying to close a deal. Time and time again this leads to more sales in the long run.
Oliver,
This post seems inspired. I really enjoyed how you humanized the selling experience. You made connections with the topic in a way that I would never have conisdered. Kudos to you. Do you ever wonder how Kim Kardashian has built trust with her millions of followers on her fanbase. I think she could utlize some of this profound thoughts that you have presented.