It used to be the mantra for sales teams: the customer is always right.
Well, maybe that was true in the past but in today’s market, where information on products and services is so readily available to clients, some sales professionals believe the customer is always confused.
Dazzled by too much choice, they find it hard to reach a decision. What they think they want can be a million miles from the best answer to their needs.
That’s why on s1jobs you can find sales vacancies where you won’t just get to demonstrate your professional selling techniques – you’ll rise rapidly through the ranks, if you can prove you’re a mind reader as well.
But David Taylor, who has been selling cars to fleet and private buyers for 20 years, says saving customers from themselves isn’t always easy.
“One customer who took delivery of an SUV returned it two days later because his garage wasn’t big enough. He’d told us it would be locked up when he worked offshore so, knowing the size of the vehicle, we’d asked him to check the dimensions of his garage before placing the order. He did but he didn’t taken into account the extra space needed to open the doors!”
Ouch!
And from cars to homes. Estate agent Jeff Watson says new buyers who’ve been scrolling through properties for months often turn up with an extensive and unrealistic list of requirements.
“When they do we sometimes have to let them know gently the house they’re looking for only exists in their dreams and they can only buy those houses that are actually for sale.
“For some it can be a painful reality check and on occasions when you do manage to track down a property that ticks every one of their demands, the chances are they won’t like it and end up buying something completely different instead.”
The solution, says Jeff, is to read between the lines and try to work out what buyers are really looking for, not what they’re dreaming of.
“If it’s a couple you’ve got to work out the dynamics of the relationship and establish which one is making the decisions. Then you’ve got to push them a little bit and see how far they are willing to compromise.
“It’s only once you’ve established those factors you can start suggesting properties that might be in the running.”
Working on these terms it’s easy to see why working in sales is as much about knowing psychology as it is about selling.
Only when you master the mind will you become a real professional.
For all the latest vacancies in Sales visit s1jobs.com