Attack Of The Sales Zombies
Kenrick Cleveland
I've been updating my computer system (again!) lately and have been making periodic trips out to the local super computer chain store in my area for this or that. A fair amount of the time, I'm able to find what I need, get in and out, without much hoopla. But when I'm looking for a more expensive piece of equipment, I have experienced a little of what I'm calling the Attack of the Sales Zombies.
When is the last time you bought something from a robot. Not an 'actual' robot, but someone with no personality, nothing unique to bring to the table, bland, bland, bland? Someone who reads off a script? Asks the same questions they've been asking over and over with no regard for you or what you actually need or want?
If I'm in the market for something and a sales zombie comes up and starts with me, I either try to determine if it will be worth helping them out or where the closest exit is. On occasion, I will try to steer some of the ones with potential into an arrangement that will be mutually beneficial. I've found, sadly, that there are some sales people so dead set on doing it by the book that I just have to walk away.
There are a few very simple things sales professionals can do to understand the true power of persuasion. The first step is to create rapport with prospects and clients. Old fashioned sales training, for the most part, glosses over rapport with a brief 'how's it going?' sort of greeting. Rapport is a deeper than that.
Rapport is really getting to the heart of the matter. Here are some examples of questions to ask: "So why are we here today?" Why are they in the store? "What will having that do for you? and Ultimately, what will having this do for you?" The key is to really listen. LISTEN. Don't push your agenda. Don't try to give them whatever it is you need to sell that particular day unless it will truly fulfill their needs.
If you are a real estate agent, and you understand that the potential client is selling their house to move into a bigger one because their family is growing, you're not going to sell them a smaller house. You're not going to try to sell them a condo with one bedroom. You're going to combine their needs, their values, and their criteria, with the inventory that you have which will work for them. It seems obvious.
The experiences I've had lately in retail have been so incredibly frustrating that I want to give sales trainings at the stores where I shop. So if you're ever in the Seattle-Tacoma area and find yourself receiving extraordinarily persuasive and helpful service at a huge computer store, you'll know why. . .
Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of wealthy clients using http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion techniques.
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