My wife and I recently paid a sum of money to have our daughter Sarah go to a kinda pre-school thing. It was just for three days and I did wonder about the price. Regardless, we both saw her off yesterday on her very first day of organized school (mostly playtime, crafts and videos of Clifford). This was just after we dropped off our daughter Grace to her kindergarten class. This means my wife has time to herself. We were driving back home and laughed a bit at the price of just three days. My wife remarked how it was money well spent even if it was for a couple of hours. Are you with me? When someone decides to pay for something, do we as deliver-ers of this service know what we are in fact delivering?
We sell stuff. We sell widgets. We sell whatever; that is the irrelevant part. Ultimately we sell what someone derives from the widget. I believe this is lost on sales people I have recently encountered. Some (again some) say “hi” and then go into the flow of some sort of sales process. First things first, I did show up; which means, I want something. If I walk into the store, I want something – that is obvious. What is not obvious is the extent to which I showed up.
I want something; that widget to solve something in my life. It doesn’t have to be so dramatic. Maybe I want to wrap a present, listen to Christmas music or frame a picture for my grandmother. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Sometimes it can be an obvious need or thirst to be quenched. However in the more complicated sales scenarios, a sales rep must find out what is driving the thirst (so to speak).
So put this into perspective. I show up; apparently to buy something. It is your job to find out what is driving me into your store. I mean there was traffic, finding a parking space, gas and oh yeah, a to-do list. Your ball now. “Hi”. Good start, now what? Two questions are arguably the best questions in the arsenal of a sales rep: “What brings you in today?” and some version of “Why?”
What brings you in allows the customer to release whatever driving force may be behind walking through the doors. It also allows you to be a bit of an empathic agent for the provision of a solution. It shows that you not only acknowledge the obvious, but also want to share in the experience.
Why gets down to the facts; the root cause for the visit. Be careful, this can be confrontational if not done correctly. Remember empathy. It does not have to a direct “Why?”. It can be an indirect “I curious, why that?” In some ways, the why is a mindset, not a voice. In other words, as a sales rep my goal is to know why you are here or why you want that widget. I may never verbally ask why, but that is the reason for any of my next steps.
If you have ever had a good sales person; especially one you would visit again and again, I bet they listened to the why. I will have to buy something tomorrow. Christmas is coming up and I have one more present (I am not kidding, all done except for one thing – my wife rocks). What will your questions be? I want something, I do. Why? That is for me know and you to find out. I paid a lot of money for my wife to have a couple of hours of sanity. Cool, huh?