Individuals are now so hugely resistant to sales people it’s untrue so, when my 84 year old mum picked up the phone and advised an Indian call centre to **ss off, I knew it was time for Reverend Hopkins to take to the lectern!
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, sales begin in relationships, friendships….they start at an emotional level. So, if you’re going to tell me that you haven’t got time to make a deeper connection with your prospects, then time and again you will fail to sell in a society that’s becoming hardened to the cold sell, the features, the benefits. Quite frankly they couldn’t give a ***ger!! Wake up!
We now have recorded sales calls….do they really work? They don’t for me, I hang up. When ‘humans’ call they launch straight into some kind of script without so much as ‘by your leave or good morning.’ Indian voices phone from the sub continent and tell you they are called Simon, in a vain bid to make a ‘connection’….gimme a break, don’t insult my intelligence! Does ‘Simon’ know the geographical area of the UK he claims to represent? Does he heck!
The techniques are becoming tired.
The other week I was involved in a sale relating to Energy Cost Reduction……more efficient use of gas, electricity and lightbulbs etc for the uninitiated. I got to meet the MD of a chain of retail outlets and, for 50 minutes, I talked about everything but energy.
I knew his hobbies because I had made it my business to learn what he was involved in BEFORE the meeting, so that I was able to talk about his ‘life’ when we got together. ‘People’ research is as important as product research. Some will be resistant to this approach, don’t get me wrong, but you still need it in your armoury, believe me.
In the end the ‘business’ discussion lasted for five or 10 minutes and I got what I wanted. The exact detail of the deal is irrelevant, it’s the approach that I am talking about. A genuine, meaningful conversation about the person you are talking to indicates respect and says ‘I know about you because I have bothered to find out’.
When did you last walk into a UK bank and try to pay a cheque in without being asked about your mortgage, your savings plans and, and and, and……..people simply glaze over because you know that the tellers are merely targeting sales. I’m sure that some people buy but the majority don’t, because the dialogue (sorry monologue!) isn’t about you, it’s about them and the bank’s targets.
If someone rang offering to sell individuals a new wife or husband I’m sure some would buy but, you know what, the majority wouldn’t!! The words would resound loud and clear round every household: “Cheeky ***ger, he/she doesn’t even know me.”