What Do You Know?
Jeff Scherer, Director of Client Strategy, Lifestyle Integrated, Inc.
February 2, 2012
Filed under Guest Blog
A common complaint we hear from businesses is that to their marketing team “all customers look the same.” Sadly, this means the company sends out the exact same message to every segment of their customer base. A customer who made a purchase last month is still receiving the same sales solicitation message that new prospects are getting. At a time when delivering relevant, personalized messaging is the key to marketing success, this old-school carpet-bombing strategy is largely a waste of time and money.
One solution to this problem is to segment your database so that you can tell customers from prospects from dead leads. Upon engaging with them, salespeople should be gathering more personalized information about the individual that they are trying to sell so that this information can be sprinkled into the sales process. Info-mining should start early in the communication. This does not require any special talent, but it does require you work on being a good listener.
In our call tracking business, we review thousands of phone calls. In many instances, the employee on the other end of the phone never asks any questions – not even for the caller’s name. They think if they just answer the caller’s questions without asking any of their own that they are being upfront and honest. That may be true, but often it gives the impression that they are just rushing to get off the phone, hoping that closing with “ask for Bill if you come in” will magically result in a laydown sale if the caller ever shows up on the property.
Becoming a good listener means really hearing what a person is saying or asking, and responding to questions with questions of your own. The goal is to engage the prospect in a DI-alogue (vs. MONO-logue).
Here are some simple examples:
Q: What is the horsepower on that boat?
A: There may be several options for engines. How are you planning to use the boat? Is horsepower important?
Q: How many people will that boat seat?
A: It’s a maximum of 12, but there may be some alternate seating configurations. Will you mostly be going out with your family or friends?
Q: What kind of finance rate is available?
A: As you know, that can vary depending on your credit. Who is the lucky one getting the new boat today?
And the list goes on. There are many common questions that salespeople are presented with all the time. The key is to resist the quick reply. Responding fast with an answer may show how well you know the product, but does not allow you to use that question to probe deeper. Remember customers care about themselves and their needs first- not about how much you know.
I have done quite a bit of sales training over the years and it is not unusual to see the rookies kicking butt out on the sales floor. Their success is often largely due to the fact that they don’t know much about the product yet. They are simply out there selling themselves, because they don’t know anything else. After awhile they start to get “smarter,” learning about strakes, degree of lift, freeboard and finance rates, and their sales numbers predictably start to slide. Again, they think they are doing a service to their customers by becoming more knowledgeable, but in reality they are becoming less personable and finding that sales “is a tough racket” (to quote Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross).
So some advice for new salespeople is to respectfully “stay stupid as long as you can.” And for the seasoned salesperson, take a few minutes to break from your old routine, slow down, and really start to listen to what that next customer is saying or asking. They may be telling you a lot. Can you pick up what they’re laying down?
Jeff Scherer, Director of Client Strategy, Lifestyle Integrated Inc.
