Nobody likes getting rejected. We’ve all experienced it – we’ve also all figured out ways to avoid it. According to Kevin Cundiff, when it comes to customers, there are four ways a salesperson can guarantee rejection, which can easily be avoided …
Pushing a customer to the point of no return is much easier than you might think, but if you up your awareness on all the ways you can turn off customers, you can learn to avoid them. Steer clear of these four damaging sales interactions and turn yourself into a better, more approachable salesperson …
1. Focusing on price instead of value
Many salespeople fail to understand the difference between price and value. While they might seem similar at first, they’re actually two very different things.
Sticking to a customer’s price point is important, but it’s not the only thing that matters. If you offer a customer a product that solves a distinct problem, and it’s something they’ve been trying to find for quite a while – or maybe that they didn’t even know they needed – that’s pretty valuable. When needs are met, price tends to matter a little bit less.
On the flipside, if you push a product that has little-to-no benefit, your customer is bound to walk out of the store empty handed regardless of the price – bad news for both of you. Pressuring customers to buy worthless items is more likely to annoy them, and push them away from buying something they might actually want. Not to mention this kind of behaviour can do serious damage to any existing or potential brand loyalty.
2. Avoiding the budget conversation
Speaking of price, you should never start pushing a sale until you’ve addressed a customer’s budget. Sure, it can feel a little awkward, but until you know what a customer is willing to spend, your tried-and-true sales tactics won’t do much good.
Think of your customer’s budget as a map. It can point you in the right direction as you promote various products, and it can help them find what they’re looking for at a price that makes sense.
“You should never start pushing a sale until you’ve addressed a customer’s budget. Sure, it can feel a little awkward, but until you know what a customer is willing to spend, your tried-and-true sales tactics won’t do much good”
Of course, there’ll always be opportunities for upsells, add-ons, and showcasing higher-priced products – but unless you know where your customer stands on budget, you’ll have a hard time leading them to the sale.
If you push the customer too hard on an item that’s above their price point, you could once again be pushing them out the door – or worse, to a competitor.
3. Being impatient about getting to checkout
A salesperson who runs to the till before the customer has actually committed always throws up a red flag.
Read your customer’s body language and verbal cues to get a sense of where they are in the sales process. Yes, most customers require a bit of coaxing and warming up before they’ll let you into their circle. The sooner you can start building trust – proving that you’re there to help and not to force a sale – the better off you’ll both be. Once that trust is built, you won’t have to drag them to the checkout kicking and screaming.
4. Letting ‘no’ be the final answer
It’s easy to let ‘no’ end the discussion. However, checking in with the customer a second time might magically turn that ‘no’ into a ‘yes’. You don’t want the customer to live happily ever after with someone else’s product, right? Put on your game face and ask for the sale again.
In sales, a ‘no’ is rarely a cold, hard, set-in-stone ‘no’. Again, demonstrate your patience here and discover the real story. Establish rapport and you’ll usually find a way to solve a customer’s problem, which should encourage them to respond more positively.
By recognising these mis-steps, you can avoid a sales dilemma that ends with losing a sale, or even losing a customer. Steer clear of these interactions and show rejection the door instead •
Kevin Cundiff is the vice-president of retail for Fortegra, a single-source insurance services company that, through a network of subsidiaries and preferred partners, offers a range of credit protection, warranty, and specialty underwriting solutions.
