WHAT ARE YOU TRAINING YOUR CUSTOMERS/CLIENTS TO SAY?

My argument is that we condition or train our customers to say NO. For example, the retail world has trained us to say no. What do you typically say when you walk into a store and a clerk says “Can I help you?” Most people will say, “No I’m just -----?” That’s right, “looking.” When we call into a service or sales center and someone says, “While I help you with that, I want to look at your account and check to see what other services are available in your area”, what do you immediately think? Most will throw up their guard and say “they’re going to try to sell me something.” We must change our mindset to figure out what we are truly trying to accomplish when approaching our customer. Our transitions can be the “tipping point” in our conversations with our customers. It’s not what we say, but more importantly how we say it; our transition must be “inviting to our customers”, we must make it easy for our customers to walk down the path of a sales conversation that allow our customers to “buy” and not have a feeling of “I’m being sold”. There is a difference between buying something and being sold something. For example, if I went down to a car dealership and was talked into buying a car, signed the paperwork and drove off the lot, my mindset would be one of “oh boy was I sold on that one”. Now same car dealership but this time they actually take the time to find out about me, what I’m looking for in a car, and help me find the right car for me. At this point I would sign the paperwork, drive off the lot, and my mindset would be different. This time it would be more of a “look what I just bought” mentality, and there’s a big difference. People love to buy, but hate being sold.

We must work hard to create a buying environment for our customers. How do we do that? First thing is we must stop being predictable. When our customers know our next move we are in a losing battle. We must keep our customers thinking about benefits to them when buying from us. Not, “Oh now here comes the part when they are going to try and sell me something” attitude. Start asking your customers questions that truly make them think. Consciously be aware of every question you ask and always have a purpose for the question you are asking or don’t ask it. Too many times we ask questions because we think that’s the right thing to do. Consciously think to yourself, “What information do I need to gather to provide my customer with the best possible solution for them?” Then ask the right questions that will get you the information you need to help them. Helping your customer is selling to your customer. A lot of times I hear, “I want to give them the best customer service possible, but don’t want to sell!” I can argue that if you don’t sell them what they need/want you are not providing great customer service. Also, when asking questions your tone of voice needs to be a curious tone. Gathering information must be a conversation, not an interrogation. This is the key when creating a buying environment. When customers and prospects feel that you are only asking questions to benefit yourself they will immediately shut down or be very guarded with their answers. They will only open up if they know you are truly interested in them. Quit training your customers to say no and start inviting them to say YES.