"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom"
-Thomas Jefferson
Whenever my boss would compliment me on being a good saleswoman, I always attributed it to the fact that I was merely the daughter of a businessman. Although that undoubtedly had a positive influence on me, I now believe that a lot of it comes down to one other simple thing- honesty.
My intent is not to brag myself up as the most honest person you'll ever meet, but I do my best in being as truthful to my fellow man as I can. After analyzing different sales pitches- whether they occurred on the phone, in person, selling to an individual, or to a group, I realized this- people have been cheated or taken advantage of so many times that most of them are incredibly untrusting. If you tell them all of the incredible things about a product and leave out all of the cons, it automatically gets put into the, "too good to be true" category in their minds.
The trick is choose what cons you are going to share with them. Spend enough time with your customer to understand what is important and not important to them in this particular circumstance. Then you know which cons you can share. Also, if you honestly know based on their needs that one particular product won't work for them then don't waste their time, your time and your company's reputation trying to sell it to them. Say instead, " Based on the fact that you need such-and-such, I don't think this is the best product for you. However, may I suggest this other product for you. From what I understand, it will work better because of such and such reasons." Saying something along these lines does several things. First of all, it shows that you actually listened to them. Second, it shows that you care about their needs. Third, they feel like you're being honest with them. I don't know about you, but in my experience everyone that I've come in contact with enjoys being listened to, cared for, and responds better to honesty.
-Thomas Jefferson
Whenever my boss would compliment me on being a good saleswoman, I always attributed it to the fact that I was merely the daughter of a businessman. Although that undoubtedly had a positive influence on me, I now believe that a lot of it comes down to one other simple thing- honesty.
My intent is not to brag myself up as the most honest person you'll ever meet, but I do my best in being as truthful to my fellow man as I can. After analyzing different sales pitches- whether they occurred on the phone, in person, selling to an individual, or to a group, I realized this- people have been cheated or taken advantage of so many times that most of them are incredibly untrusting. If you tell them all of the incredible things about a product and leave out all of the cons, it automatically gets put into the, "too good to be true" category in their minds.
The trick is choose what cons you are going to share with them. Spend enough time with your customer to understand what is important and not important to them in this particular circumstance. Then you know which cons you can share. Also, if you honestly know based on their needs that one particular product won't work for them then don't waste their time, your time and your company's reputation trying to sell it to them. Say instead, " Based on the fact that you need such-and-such, I don't think this is the best product for you. However, may I suggest this other product for you. From what I understand, it will work better because of such and such reasons." Saying something along these lines does several things. First of all, it shows that you actually listened to them. Second, it shows that you care about their needs. Third, they feel like you're being honest with them. I don't know about you, but in my experience everyone that I've come in contact with enjoys being listened to, cared for, and responds better to honesty.
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KC
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