Are You a Selfish Salesperson or a Customer-Centric Partner?
Can customers hear you over the sound of your own voice? If not, it's time to rethink how you approach sales -- and marketing too.
Sales and marketing professionals, repeat after me: No one cares about you.
It’s your job to make them care.
But not about you, about how you can make THEIR life better.
You do this so you can make money – not for branding or to build a reputation or to go viral. Those are tactics to get people to sign on the line which is dotted.
And, sure, sure; your kids, parents, friends, and significant others do care about you (I hope!).
BUT you aren’t trying to convince them to buy anything from you.
Do you recognize yourself or your sales (or marketing) teams in this photo here?
Don’t be that guy.
This isn’t rocket science: to win business you must be focused on your customers. Do you know what your customers and prospects want or have you only paid just enough attention to fake it?
If you’re slick and have enough charisma, you can fake it. Uninformed customers can be hoodwinked by your bullshit.
Of course, once they realize that you don’t give a damn about them, how long do you think they’ll be your customer?
Storytime — Buying Cars
I’ve only bought three new cars (to go with one hand-me-down 1980 Mazda GLZ, complete with poop stain on the front seat from when my younger brother had a diaper malfunction — there’s a still-vivid memory; and five other used vehicles).
I’ll set aside the Saturn experience of simply paying the price on the car. That was nice. Haggling sucks.
Of the other two purchase experiences, I’ve had the displeasure of meeting the “used car salesman” stereotype.
Nearly 20 years ago, my ex wanted a Mazda 3 or something similar. The sales guy would not shut up with pushing us to other deals, floor models, and larger models that either weren’t what she wanted or outside the budget.
He was finally called away and, on our own, we wandered the lot and she found the Mazda 3 she wanted. He barely pretended to listen. All he wanted to do was sell a car with the largest possible commission for himself.
Fast forward to needing to replace our Ford Explorer (a Carmax buy, loved Carmax, but we wanted new). On a whim, we dropped into Apple Ford after my daughter’s soccer game one Saturday. Four hours later, we drove off in our shiny new Ford Explorer.
Why?
Wary after our last experience with a new car, we weren’t looking forward to talking to a car salesman. We told the guy we wanted another Explorer (we had done ZERO research). He kept asking questions: Basics or bells and whistles? Pets? How many? Leather seats or cloth? Color preferences? Do you do any biking or hiking? Kids?
We ended up with two choices, both perfect. We opted for the one with heated seats because a warm ass on a cold morning is a delight.
What’s the point here? We NEVER even thought about going back to that Mazda dealership. For anything. If I ever want another Mazda, ain’t going there. The Ford salesman listened to what we wanted and even steered us past higher end SUVs that weren’t a good fit and would have given him a larger commission.
As for service, the reason we were at Apple in the first place was because of the great job they had done keeping our old Explorer running.
Are You Helping or Just a Used Car Salesman?
Don’t. Be. Awesome. Guy.
Shut up and listen. Really listen.
Learn what your customers and prospects want to accomplish. Learn where they do their research and BE there, whether that’s on the phone, in person, or in a social media conversation.
During the years I spent working with copier dealers, we gathered leads from social media for our customers. Many of THOSE leads resulted in a copier sale (or a managed services contract) because the reps shared an article, showed value, and had a conversation in that platform with the prospect.
The most important rule to remember on social platforms – don't sell, tell. Or perhaps that should be “Don’t say, show.” Regardless of the formulation you prefer, the helpful mindset behind both is central to successful sales.
Be Their Partner
Support them with honesty and don't BS them with a barrage of jargon. The actual product name for copiers is MFPs (which stands for both multifunction printer and multifunction peripheral). But most folks in an office neither know or care.
They know what the copy machine is. Or the Xerox machine. I’ve never worked in an office where they put up a sign that said, “MFP broken, service technician has been called.” Nope. It says, “The POS copier is down – again. Copier repairman has been called.”
Whatever your version of “MFP” is remember that no one cares
I repeat: Don’t. Be. “Awesome.” Guy.
Listen, then speak.
That means hearing what your prospects and customers say; not just nodding along until you grab an opening to make your sales pitch.
Your new sales pitch is about helping them.
Helping them solve their problems.
There’s a Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid movie, In Good Company (pretty good movie). A scene near the movie’s end summarizes what a good salesperson should care about – a good marketing professional too.
After making a magazine ad sale to a long-time client (there’s some great stuff in the scene about the value of relationships too), as they leave, Quaid’s character says to Topher Grace, “And you know what the best thing is? It’s the right thing to do. It’ll improve his business.” [The quote starts at 2:26 in the clip below, but the entire thing is worth watching.]
There’s another great quote from Quaid about sales that I loved too (clip below that contains this quote):
We’re still selling a product, right? Which hopefully someone needs. We’re human beings with other human beings for customers.
I explored this topic a while back here, When It Comes to Marketing: Always Be Human.
I like to feel like the person I’m buying something from cares, at least a little, about my success.
You can’t do that if your mouth is engaged all the time.
So shut it. Listen. Become a partner in your customers’ success.
They’ll remain your customer for a long time.
Of course, I believe content marketing is a strategy that will help you help your customers — and bring more in. And I’d be happy to help you do that — duhonius@gmail.com.
Bonus movie scene: Who else cringed at all of the synergy crap from the 90s and 2000s? Always loved this scene which shows how much synergy was just a bunch of words and bullshit and usually just an excuse to fire people so stocks would go up and execs could get paid. Anyway, soapbox. Off. Enjoy.