Remembering the Customer’s Needs

In Pink’s To Sell is Human, chapter four called Attunement, he discusses how Sears and Amazon leave an empty chair in their meetings to remind participants of their customer. The goal of remembering the customer is to allow meeting participants of what the customer’s wants, needs and desires are, so that they can create the best experience, product, or service FOR the customer. It emphasizes the fact that the customer is not here to buy the product, but that the company is here to provide the solution to the customer’s pain.

As a customer myself, I have been in a situation where the salesperson was attempting to sell me a crane for my camera, without fully understanding what I needed. I had a specific model in mind, a tight budget and had done lots of research prior to entering the store. The salesperson had asked what I did, why I wanted a crane and showed me different ones. Although when I asked to see the one I wanted, he was so focused on selling a brand new, really nice looking model (and honestly one that I REALLY wanted), that he forgot that I had told him what my budget was. I felt really pressured by him to buy this specific model, but I ultimately told him that I was not ready to make a decision yet and left the store. The next day I found a used model of the crane I originally wanted and ordered online. If this salesperson had not pressured me into a specific model or had remembered what I wanted and why I wanted, I definitely would have bought a crane from him. His lack of focus on my specific needs, ultimately canceled any deal I might have made with him and he ended up losing a sale from me.

Remembering the customer’s needs throughout the entire sales process and staying attuned to them is very important if you are going to finalize a sale with them.