Recently in an article I read, Anderson Peterson, the CEO of Signal Sciences, shared a little about the experience he had while working at The North Face while he was in college. Peterson stated that while he loved The North Face and their products, if a customer walked into the store and asked for something that the company couldn’t provide, he would recommend the customer go to another store that would be able to better suit their needs. Suggesting a different store actually had a very positive effect on Peterson’s customers, he stated “Funny thing was, they always ended up buying at least something from me because they were so shocked I wasn’t just pushing our products on them.” Because of Peterson’s honesty, his customers trusted him and usually made the voluntary choice to buy from him anyway. He ended his story with “A great lesson I learned from this is that the best salespeople are the ones you trust.”
This story fits very well with what we have been learning in class, and I think it is a great example of what we have learned about the importance of trust. Truth + Transparency = Trust. Peterson was truthful and transparent with his customers, and he didn’t try to push the stores products onto them. By doing this he showed his customers that he genuinely cares for their needs and that they can trust him. This trust ultimately resulted in sales, and satisfied customers that didn’t feel like they were being forced into buying something.
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It definitely seems counterintuitive but this practice does work. I often have to refer people elsewhere when they come to one of my businesses asking for a product or service that I cannot adequately provide. I have a difficult time thinking of a time that one of these did not directly result in a later sale either with the individual who I referred elsewhere or their friends and family.
This post is great! I do think that this process is alittle backwards. The fact that we have to apologize as sellers and accept responsibility for something that we do not believe is our fault just to build report with our customers and give them a small sense of power. However, the stats sell and the benefits show that this leads to sales.
The example you use about the NorthFace store is fascinating. Sending customers elsewhere for products you don’t carry leading to sales? Who would’ve thought! This is definitely a great nugget of sales wisdom!