Don’t Stop Selling until your CUSTOMER is Done Buying
Are you leaving money on the table? In sales there is nothing worse than finding out you left the proverbial “Money on the Table” for your competitor to swing by and pick up after you are gone. Your first line of defense should be to focus on your skill of asking questions. When you ask the right questions, you’ll have enough information to help your customer make the best decision for themselves and or their company. Let me give you an example:
Your High School Reunion is quickly approaching and you want to look GREAT for the big night. You go shopping and find a specialty boutique that has a gorgeous dress. After you try it on, you KNOW this is the dress for you. You look amazing and you will feel confident and know you look fantastic! You get home to show your friends or family your stunning attire and you realize… you don’t have shoes, pantyhose or accessories to match… your ensemble is not even close to complete… How do you feel?
Discouraged? Disappointed? Frustrated? Stressed? So if this was you, what would you do now? Would you drive all the way back to the specialty boutique where the salesperson already let you down? Or do you go to the closest place to get the job done?
Most of us have busy lives so we would choose the latter and thus have just given some unsuspecting salesperson a “gift” because the customer is already primed and in a buying mood. She knows she needs the additional items and is prepared to purchase them so how and why did this happen? The salesperson stopped selling before the customer was done buying.
Fear of selling is a very common problem among salespeople. We have a fear of being “pushy” or unfortunately, some are just down right lazy (they obviously aren’t being paid on commission!) So how can prevent ourselves from being one of these frustrating stops for our customers? Don’t Stop Selling Until Your CUSTOMER is Done Buying!
Important Note: The word CUSTOMER is in all capitals and underlined. It is all about the CUSTOMER!
Where do you start? How about the obvious. If a customer is coming to you with a specific goal in mind, (i.e. looking great for her high school reunion) what does she need to do that? Obviously she needs “the works” if she wants to make that lasting impression that we are all desirous of. If she can’t afford it, she will let you know, but it is YOUR JOB to present all the options to her so she can make her own decisions. She may decide on a couple of the items and not all of them, but don’t pre-judge people whether you know them personally or not. (That will be an upcoming blog post!) Do your job and you will likely be surprised by the outcome.
So let’s go back in time to the boutique and you have just found the perfect dress, how could this have been handled differently? We offer up solutions and suggestions for our customer to make her shopping experience as simple as possible. We are going to use word choices that will encourage and motivate her to want your products because of the benefit they have to HER.
“You look simply amazing in that dress! I think that is the perfect choice, now let me gather up some accessories for your to try with it so we can experience the complete package.”
Now we try on shoes, we find a matching purse and of course the right jewelry! Now you feel like a million bucks! You know when you walk out of that store and go home, you can put this little ensemble (that is all together) in your closet until that special night because your salesperson provided everything you needed. She is a professional and takes her job seriously enough to ask the right questions, offer suggestions and share her honest opinions. All of course while respecting the customers decisions.
Now that is what selling is and if you were that salesperson, you would have just gotten a customer for life. The next time she or someone she knows is looking for a special occasion outfit, she will be contacting you or referring others to you and you have now created a raving fan.
I realize that scenarios are different for every business and I would love to help you find the right words and the right way to package items to make it the most convenient for your customers and to help you come up with the right words so you can glide through conversations without stumbling through. I will gladly do a free 20 minute call with you to see if we can come up with some ideas for your business! Just click the link below and I will contact you to schedule your appointment. Until then, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and stay up to date on all the training we have available!
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