Are you giving a great buying experience?
When I run one of my sales training courses, I usually do a bit with the class at the beginning about ‘what makes a good sale’. I ask delegates to think about a time when they had an outstanding buying experience and to share it with the group. The results are often a surprise to participants and really get them thinking about what it feels like to delight customers. It also shows them in a very real way that not all buying decisions are based on price. So what exactly goes into creating a great buying experience? Well, in no particular order, these are the things that usually come top of the list:
“They took time to listen to me” – the salesperson listened attentively, asked questions, showed they understood the answers and tried to find out what was really important to the customer.
“Nothing was too much trouble” – they never lost patience, provided endless samples, changes and suggestions and did it all with a smile. Even if the customer was a bit difficult, they kept on trying to help.
“Talked about the benefits” – instead of listing a whole load of features, they took time to explain how the features could benefit the customer in terms of things like durability, quality, ease of use, functionality. They matched the benefits to what the customer was trying to achieve.
“Had an outstanding knowledge of what they were selling” – not only of their product or service, but how it compares to others in the market and what makes it a good fit for the customer. This creates the feeling that they can be trusted.
“They talk about value, not cost” – instead of rushing to offer a discount, when price is an issue, brilliant salespeople know to talk about the benefits and show how higher cost brings significant extra benefits, thus creating value.
“You felt important” – even though you might have had a strange request (or you really didn’t know what you were talking about) the salesperson treated you as though you were the most important person in the world. You were not patronised or made to feel silly.
These are all relatively straightforward to achieve with a little bit of practice, so why not start to implement these now and give your customers the outstanding buying experience that should get them coming back again and again?
Janet is an award-winning sales trainer based in Enfield, North London and specialises in teaching small businesses and entrepreneurs how to sell more. For some great free resources, head over to the Tadpole Training website and pick up some more sales tips: Click here