Two Sales People Walk Into a Call

No Joke, You Need A New Strategy to Sell In This Economy

Why do salesmen do this, why do professionals do this, and why are sales trainers still training sales people to sell like this? My husband had two salesman come in his office last week, both selling a products he needs and wants, and both having scheduled a pre-planned sales call with him. So, why did neither of these salesman close the deal? Because neither salesman understood the new rules of selling in this economy.

Selling today is different. If you are struggling, stressed or even a little confused about why customers are no longer quick to make a decision, jumping to buy your product, or calling you back when they say they will, trust me, there is a reason, and it begins with the new economy.

Today’s economy is not down, it’s different. It has radically changed, and things are never, I mean never going to back to the way that they were. In fact, economists agree, they say we have moved out of a push economy, and into a pull economy, and the big major shift, the big major difference, is that in a pull economy the consumer, your customer, moves into the position of control.

Customer control means the customers have a choice. They do not have to do business with you. Your product, your service, in this economy has become a commodity, but how you sell it, how you offer it, that has become your competitive advantage. Welcome to the Trust & Value Economy, how you sell it is all about building trust with your customers and adding value. This is a relationship economy.

So let’s go back to these two sales and see what they did and did not do, and why both failed to close the deal:

1. No Investigation – my husband is a busy man, and while he did have a pre-planned call with both of these salesman, in fairness to them, his time was limited; both appointments being just 45 minutes each. With limited time, both salesman jumped right into their pitch, explaining in great detail about what their product or service could do for my husband’s practice. They never took any time at all to learn about him, his practice and most importantly his problems and challenges. Therefore they tried to sell him product, rather than sell him on risk and value.
2. No Connection – with no questions asked on either salesman’s part, there was no time to get to know my husband, learn about him, or connect with him. Make no mistake, sales has always been, but is more so in this economy, emotion based. If your customer does not like you, they are not going to buy from you. The best way to emotionally engage the customer is to take the time to ask question, learn about them, and connect.
3. No Understanding – while a 45 minute sales call may seem short, both of these men poured out so much information, as fast as they could, that they completely over whelmed my husband. It was too much about their product, what too fast, and left my husband with too much information to possibly make a decision. The confused mind never buys, and telling your customer everything your product or service can do on the first pitch, is a way to ensure they have no understanding of anything your product can do.
4. No Deal – all of the above lead to no deal – why? Because my husband, yes needs the product, but he knows he has a choice. The product he can find anywhere, but a salesman who investigates, connects and creates understanding is what he is looking for.

So take the time to relearn how to sell in this economy; it is all about building trust and adding value. If you back-up and learn how to engage customers, connect with customers, and build relationships you will set yourself up to Win In the Trust and Value Economy.