The best salespeople believe thinking like the customer requires starting at the beginning with every sale. Megan, a financial planner, told me she approaches every customer naively, asks questions and listens carefully. This great approach is a practiced art among the best salespeople.
“I don’t feel the need to demonstrate my knowledge of our financial services to the customer,” said Megan. “I check my ego at the start of the sale and listen like it’s the first time I ever heard what they tell me.”
I wish Megan could have been with me last month. I went to one of the big electronic retailers to buy a SONY 52” flat screen LCD TV. I walked to the TV section and was ignored for at least 10 minutes. Finally, the salesperson got through fooling with a stack of receipts at the cash register and came over to ask me if I needed help.
“Hi, I’m Scott,” he said. “Do you need some help?”
I thought that was obvious, considering I strolled by him a dozen times coughing, clearing my throat, and exhaling loudly while glancing at my watch. Perhaps he really hadn’t noticed when I grabbed a marker from right in front of him and made a cardboard sign that said, “Got food, but need a TV!”
“Yes, thank you,” I said. “I want a SONY 52” flat screen LCD TV.”
He actually responded, “You don’t want a SONY, you want a SAMSUNG. Come over here and look at this one.”
“No, I want a SONY 52” flat screen LCD TV,” I replied, standing my ground.
“The SAMSUNG has a plasma screen with a much better picture,” Scott explained. “I’m a gamer, so I know about screens and know you’ll like the SAMSUNG plasma screen much better than an LCD screen.”
He then looked squarely into my eyes and said, “I know you’ll be much happier with a SAMSUNG than you will be with a SONY. You want the SAMSUNG.”
I felt like I was in the scene from the original “Star Wars” movie when stormtroopers pull Luke Skywalker’s speeder over with Obi-Wan Kenobi, R2-D2 and C-3PO sitting in the back.
One of the stormtroopers asks Luke how long he has been traveling with R2-D2 and C-3PO. Obi-Wan intervenes using the Force, saying in a very controlled voice, “These are not the droids you are looking for. We can go!”
To which the stormtrooper passively replied, “These are not the droids we are looking for. They can go.”
Unfortunately for Scott, he didn’t have the Force on his side. So, I looked squarely into his eyes and said, “Listen Spanky, I’ve had SONY TVs all of my life, never had any trouble and am loyal to the brand. I know that SAMSUNG makes a great product, but I want a SONY. Thanks for your time.”
Spanky’s eyes glazed over. He looked at me passively and repeated, “You’ve had SONY TVs all of your life, never had any trouble and are loyal to the brand. You know that SAMSUNG makes a great product, but you want a SONY. Thanks for your time.”
I left, drove next door to the other big electronic retailer, walked in and said, “I want a SONY 52” flat screen LCD TV.”
“Yes sir, right over here,” the salesperson responded. “Sounds like you know exactly what you want. Are you replacing an older SONY TV?
The point of this story is, if you really want to think like your customer, you need to take the time to find out what they might be thinking. This applies whether you’re in sales or not. If you’re trying to get a promotion at work, you try to think like your boss and find out what he wants. Same principle.
Here are five simple steps to avoid stormtrooper syndrome:
Dan Norman is a sales performance expert, a professional speaker, a columnist and the author of Top Ten Selling – The Lumberjack Chronicles. He has hired and developed thousands of sales representatives and hundreds of sales managers. Throughout his career, Dan has made a science of understanding the fundamentals of what it takes to be the “best-of-the-best” in sales and management performance. To book Dan Norman to speak at your next event, visit www.toptenselling.com. © 2009 Dan Norman. All rights reserved.
