Sell or Be Sold(26)

I wound up buying two laptops and a desktop computer from him in less than twenty minutes. Before I left, I asked him what else I might need and then purchased extra memory cards, software programs, and extended warranties. The first guy took fifteen minutes demonstrating his product knowledge, but he didn’t bother to find out anything about me and he didn’t get the sale. Why? He put product knowledge before people knowledge. The guy who sold me the product and got the commission also had plenty of product knowledge, and that was essential for him to guide me to the right product. But he didn’t put the product knowledge first. He put me first. The human quality involved in selling can never be replaced, and it becomes even more beneficial the more deeply entrenched we become in the machine age.

I want to clarify: When I suggest you ask questions, it is not done with the intent of manipulation. This strategy has been greatly misused by sales trainers over the years. You are asking questions to find out more about how to help the human being in front of you rather than how to manipulate that person.

Many books on sales suggest a tactic of collecting information to use against the buyer later. They even describe tricks such as suggesting that the salesperson doesn’t answer questions but that he responds to the buyer’s questions with more questions. That is manipulation, not communication with the intent of helping the buyer, and it will not serve you over time.

I’m in the people business, not the product business, and I’m certainly not in the business of manipulation.





PEOPLE ARE SENIOR TO PRODUCTS (CRITICAL FOR EXECUTIVES)


Make this a fundamental rule you live and die by: You are in the people business, not the product business. People are senior to products! People are senior to processes employed by companies. No product or sales process will ever be successful if it doesn’t make people senior! A product is dead; people are not. A process is a function and is always less important than people. To the degree that a company’s sales process becomes more important than people, that process will fail.

A personal friend of mine who was a rookie commercial real estate agent asked me for a meeting about an investment property I was considering. I won’t mention the name of the company he worked for, but I can tell you that it’s one of the largest firms in the world representing apartment buildings, and it relies on a very stringent sales process.

I told my friend to come to my house for a meeting. He told me it was essential that I come into his office rather than him coming to see me. I thought this was strange and told him, “Just meet me at my office and let’s figure out how I can buy something from you.” He called me back and insisted that I come to his office! This was totally uncharacteristic of my friend. I asked him why he continued to insist on this, because there was no way I was going down to his office: If he wanted to meet with me, he’d have to come to my home or not meet with me at all. At this point he agreed. When he finally got to my home, we sat at my kitchen table and I asked him why he continued to insist that I come to his office. He explained that he’d been to a seminar and the company’s sales approach insisted on the client going into the salesperson’s office. This was a “control” point that the company promoted to its young salespeople, suggesting they would be able to control the client and get more listings.

While it’s vital to have a sales process in place, the moment the process becomes senior to servicing the customer it will always err! This particular process failed to include me, the buyer! By the way, my friend never sold me any real estate. Instead, he quit his job at that company after I convinced him to come and work with me managing my property. This proved to be a very successful decision for both of us. He went on to become a prosperous business owner and real estate entrepreneur. To this day he thanks me for not meeting him at his office! People are senior to processes.

I remember when the Hummer H2 first came out. I was so excited after I’d seen one that I immediately called up a Hummer dealership because I wanted to buy one. I didn’t need a Hummer, but I wanted one, and I wanted it now! A salesperson answered the phone and I asked how much a Hummer was. He told me that he couldn’t give me a price over the phone. I asked if there was something wrong with him because I’d just called for a price, and he’d stated that he couldn’t tell me. He said it was company policy not to give prices over the phone. Wow! What a policy. This Hummer dealership has a policy in place that prevents people from purchasing anything. He then told me that the policy was there to prevent people from shopping price over the phone and going to a competitor. I hadn’t even been thinking about shopping a competitor until he planted the seed in my mind. “Hmmm. Maybe I should shop the price.…” I wondered why the Hummer dealership bothered to advertise its phone number if no one there was willing to answer questions.