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What Customers Dislike About Salespeople
Never approach a customer unprepared. According to a survey by
Purchasing magazine, lack of preparation is the number one dislike
buyers have about sellers, with a lack of interest or purpose following
close behind. "Hello, your account has just been assigned to me," is
blatant behavioral evidence that the salesperson is going through the
motions.
A better opening would be, "In preparing for this
meeting I..." Then tell the customer exactly what you did to prepare. To
be welcomed into a buyer's office, you must have a valid business reason
for being there and be able to quickly articulate that reason.
Larry Wilson and Spencer Johnson describe the
"Purpose, Process, Payoff" speech in their book, The One Minute Sales
Person. The purpose, process and payoff speech can answer four of
the prospect's unasked questions in the first two minutes of your
meeting:
1. Why are you here? (Purpose)
2. What's going to happen in the meeting? (Process)
3. What's in it for me? (Payoff)
4. How long is this going to take?
Here is how a purpose, process and payoff opening
might go:
John, the purpose of this meeting is to exchange some
information about sales training. Here's how I see our meeting going.
I'll present a 12-minute video that frames some key training issues.
Then I'll ask five specific questions about your sales team. At the
end of this meeting (which will take no more than 40 minutes,
especially if we can limit the interruptions), you'll be a more
informed consumer of training programs and training products. And at
the same time, I'll know if you want to take the next step in our
process, which would be the proposal phase. Fair enough?
Your customers buy the way you sell before they buy
what you sell. Selling them on the way you're going to work together is
a step you should not skip. So many salespeople do that you have an
unfair advantage if you include it in every meeting.
To show you're very prepared, you can send your
bullet-point purpose, process and payoff agenda two days before the
meeting to confirm the meeting and market it as well.
Being more prepared will help you seem more interested
and purposeful. It's important that you give off three vibes when you
are with a customer:
You can't fake it. Vibes are non-verbal manifestations
of what's going on inside of you. Your smile, posture, tone of voice and
the depth of your conviction will let the customer see that you are
different than all the salespeople who meet with the customer.
In my book, The Accidental Salesperson, How to Take
Control of Your Sales Career and Earn the Respect and Income You Deserve,
I offer this axiom: Your clients get better when you get better.
The corollary to that is: Your clients are rooting for
you to get better.
Your customers want to have engaging meetings and work
with the best salespeople and companies in the business.
Think about salespeople you respect. What do they do
differently than salespeople you don't respect? Chances are they are
into what they do. And when you are with them, you feel like an
important customer. They focus on you and not their next meeting. They
listen and respond appropriately. As a buyer yourself, you don't throw
up as many stalls and objections. You may even be willing to pay a
little more because you enjoy buying from them.
Be prepared. And approach your customer with a sense
of interest and purpose. Aligning your behavior with the behaviors that
customers value is the fastest way to earn respect and credibility.
Orders that come from respect and credibility are more profitable than
orders that come from price-cutting.
Take this idea into the field this week. Build a
purpose-process-payoff speech for each meeting you have scheduled. It
can be very simple, one or two bullet points under each heading. You
will find that your customers will treat you differently and better.
After all, you're treating them the way they want to be treated.
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