I was listening in on some sales calls with a distributor of high performance auto parts, along with their Inside Sales Manager. A customer had called in to ask about a particular engine wiring harness. The salesperson explained that, yes, the harness would work on his engine just fine. Right as the customer was about ready to buy, the salesperson said, \u201cHowever, it\u2019s not designed as a stock replacement harness; it won\u2019t work on your original 2000 Camaro.\u201d<\/p>\n
The customer stopped and said that what he wanted was a stock replacement harness for his Camaro, and the salesperson explained that this harness was designed to swap the engine into an older car and wouldn\u2019t support all the functions of the Camaro\u2019s system. The customer thanked the salesperson and hung up, and the Inside Sales Manager came unglued. He referenced one of the worst outdated sales techniques you can use, and if you\u2019re using them, you\u2019ll want to STOP now.<\/p>\n
1. \u201cNever answer the question the customer didn\u2019t ask!\u201d<\/strong> is what the Sales Manager yelled at the poor salesperson. He said, \u201cIf you hadn\u2019t volunteered that information, he\u2019d have bought it.\u201d The salesman was a rookie, so I stepped in. \u201cIf he\u2019d bought,\u201d I said, \u201cthat harness would have come right back to you as a return, and the customer would have been upset. What\u2019s your win there?\u201d As the manager stammered, I said, \u201cOr worse, he\u2019d have tried to cut into and modify the harness to make it work, it still wouldn\u2019t have worked, and then he couldn\u2019t return it OR use it, and he\u2019s out $1,000. How does that help anyone?\u201d \u201cNever answer the question the customer didn\u2019t ask\u201d is an old canard that\u2019s built around \u201cget the order at all costs, and to hell with what happens afterward\u201d transactional sales. It\u2019s old and outdated. Your role is to help the customer reach a successful buying decision. So here\u2019s your new rule: If it is information the customer needs to know in order to have a successful result, give it to them, whether they asked or not.<\/strong><\/p>\n 2. The \u201ctake away\u201d close.<\/strong> The way this one works is that, at closing time, you say something like, \u201cYou know, you really shouldn\u2019t buy this (for whatever noble reason).\u201d The idea is that the customer now wants it so badly that he will then justify why he should buy (and deserves to own), and in so doing, sell himself on the product. Here\u2019s the problem. If you\u2019ve been selling correctly, you\u2019ve built up a lot of trust and credibility with the customer. Based on that, when you use the \u201ctake away,\u201d one of two things will happen. First, the customer will believe you because of the credibility and trust \u2013 which means that you lose the sale (or you end up having to re-close, which makes you a liar). Second, the customer sees right through the tactic, realizes that you\u2019re lying, and walks. Neither is good. Just play the close straight. Only take it away if you\u2019re really going to take it away; i.e. it\u2019s not a good purchase for the customer.<\/strong><\/p>\n 3. Never ask a question to which you don\u2019t know the answer.<\/strong> This is the old \u201clawyer\u2019s technique,\u201d and basically it means that the salesperson is scared to death of being surprised by the answer to a question. There are two problems with this philosophy. First of all, you must ask questions to which you don\u2019t know the answer to properly discover and interpret needs \u2013 and be prepared for surprises and for the call to go in directions you hadn\u2019t anticipated. Second, by the time the lawyer gets into the courtroom, the witness has already been questioned \u2013 numerous times \u2013 and the lawyer already knows what the witness is going to say. That\u2019s not the case in a sales call. Not asking questions to which you don\u2019t know the answer means that you\u2019re fearful. Drop the fear and do good customer discoveries \u2013 that\u2019s the best way to sell today.<\/strong><\/p>\n 4. The salesperson should seek to control the customer and the sales process.<\/strong> First of all, any salesperson who believes that he has \u201ccontrol\u201d over the customer is fooling himself. The customer can always remove themselves from the process. Whatever control we have is more aptly referred to as \u201cinfluence,\u201d and is shown by the customer allowing or asking us to direct parts of the process. Seek influence, rather than control, by respecting the customer\u2019s intelligence, showing your expertise, and working side by side for a successful result.<\/strong><\/p>\n 5. The Up Front Contract<\/strong>. Essentially this is a technique where you open the sales call with a closing question designed to lock the customer in with \u201cintent to buy if things are right.\u201d This can range from the car salesman\u2019s, \u201cAre you here to buy a car today?\u201d to, \u201cIf you like what you see today, is there any reason we can\u2019t move forward?\u201d The problem with this question is that it occurs at the start of the selling process, before you have built any trust or equity with your customer, and before you have earned the right to ask a closing question. At this point your customer knows nothing of your offerings nor your pricing, and many times their needs haven\u2019t been defined and matched to a product or a service \u2013 and you\u2019re asking a closing question? Ridiculous. Besides, if the customer says \u201cyes\u201d to the question and later says \u201cno\u201d to moving forward, the only thing you can do is whine anyway. Don\u2019t worry about the buyer\u2019s intent until the buyer has a reason to have intent. If they are seeing you, they are Motivated to enter a buying process \u2013 but that\u2019s all.<\/strong><\/p>\n All of these techniques have one thing in common \u2013 they are designed to maneuver and manipulate customers into places that they don\u2019t want to be. If you\u2019re using them, the \u201870s called and they want their sales techniques back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was listening in on some sales calls with a distributor of high performance auto parts, along with their Inside Sales Manager. A customer had called in to ask about a particular engine wiring harness. The salesperson explained that, yes, the harness would work on his engine just fine. Right as the customer was about ready to buy, the salesperson said, \u201cHowever, it\u2019s not designed as a stock replacement harness; it won\u2019t work on your original 2000 Camaro.\u201d The customer stopped and said that what he wanted was a stock replacement harness for his Camaro, and the salesperson explained that this harness was designed to swap the engine into an older car and wouldn\u2019t support all the functions of the Camaro\u2019s system. The customer thanked the salesperson and hung up, and the Inside Sales Manager came unglued. He referenced one of the worst outdated sales techniques you can use, and if you\u2019re using them, you\u2019ll want to STOP now. 1. \u201cNever answer the question the customer didn\u2019t ask!\u201d is what the Sales Manager yelled at the poor salesperson. He said, \u201cIf you hadn\u2019t volunteered that information, he\u2019d have bought it.\u201d The salesman was a rookie, so I stepped in. \u201cIf he\u2019d bought,\u201d I said, \u201cthat harness would have come right back to you as a return, and the customer would have been upset. What\u2019s your win there?\u201d As the manager stammered, I said, \u201cOr worse, he\u2019d have tried to cut into and modify the harness to make it work, it still wouldn\u2019t have worked, and then he couldn\u2019t return it OR use it, and he\u2019s out $1,000. How does that help anyone?\u201d \u201cNever answer the question the customer didn\u2019t ask\u201d is an old canard that\u2019s built around \u201cget the order at all costs, and to hell with what happens afterward\u201d transactional sales. It\u2019s old and outdated. Your role is to help the customer reach a successful buying decision. So here\u2019s your new rule: If it is information the customer needs to know in order to have a successful result, give it to them, whether they asked or not. 2. The \u201ctake away\u201d close. The way this one works is that, at closing time, you say something like, \u201cYou know, you really shouldn\u2019t buy this (for whatever noble reason).\u201d The idea is that the customer now wants it so badly that he will then justify why he should buy (and deserves to own), and in so doing, sell himself on the product. Here\u2019s the problem. If you\u2019ve been selling correctly, you\u2019ve built up a lot of trust and credibility with the customer. Based on that, when you use the \u201ctake away,\u201d one of two things will happen. First, the customer will believe you because of the credibility and trust \u2013 which means that you lose the sale (or you end up having to re-close, which makes you a liar). Second, the customer sees right through the tactic, realizes that you\u2019re lying, and walks. Neither is good. Just play the close straight. Only take it away if you\u2019re really going to take it away; i.e. it\u2019s not a good purchase for the customer. 3. Never ask a question to which you don\u2019t know the answer. This is the old \u201clawyer\u2019s technique,\u201d and basically it means that the salesperson is scared to death of being surprised by the answer to a question. There are two problems with this philosophy. First of all, you must ask questions to which you don\u2019t know the answer to properly discover and interpret needs \u2013 and be prepared for surprises and for the call to go in directions you hadn\u2019t anticipated. Second, by the time the lawyer gets into the courtroom, the witness has already been questioned \u2013 numerous times \u2013 and the lawyer already knows what the witness is going to say. That\u2019s not the case in a sales call. Not asking questions to which you don\u2019t know the answer means that you\u2019re fearful. Drop the fear and do good customer discoveries \u2013 that\u2019s the best way to sell today. 4. The salesperson should seek to control the customer and the sales process. First of all, any salesperson who believes that he has \u201ccontrol\u201d over the customer is fooling himself. The customer can always remove themselves from the process. Whatever control we have is more aptly referred to as \u201cinfluence,\u201d and is shown by the customer allowing or asking us to direct parts of the process. Seek influence, rather than control, by respecting the customer\u2019s intelligence, showing your expertise, and working side by side for a successful result. 5. The Up Front Contract. Essentially this is a technique where you open the sales call with a closing question designed to lock the customer in with \u201cintent to buy if things are right.\u201d This can range from the car salesman\u2019s, \u201cAre you here to buy a car today?\u201d to, \u201cIf you like what you see today, is there any reason we can\u2019t move forward?\u201d The problem with this question is that it occurs at the start of the selling process, before you have built any trust or equity with your customer, and before you have earned the right to ask a closing question. At this point your customer knows nothing of your offerings nor your pricing, and many times their needs haven\u2019t been defined and matched to a product or a service \u2013 and you\u2019re asking a closing question? Ridiculous. Besides, if the customer says \u201cyes\u201d to the question and later says \u201cno\u201d to moving forward, the only thing you can do is whine anyway. Don\u2019t worry about the buyer\u2019s intent until the buyer has a reason to have intent. If they are seeing you, they are Motivated to enter a buying process \u2013 but that\u2019s all. All of these techniques have one thing in common \u2013 they are designed to maneuver and manipulate customers into places that they don\u2019t want to be. If you\u2019re using them, the \u201870s called and they want their sales techniques back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1649,1814],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8577"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8579,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8577\/revisions\/8579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}