What do you want it to do? By Steve
Waterhouse
“What do you want it to do?” That's all he asked…
My wife and I stopped into a car dealership last
night to look at cars. We were met by Robert who asked
politely if he could help us. After we convinced him
that we had no idea what we were looking for and just
wanted to wander the lot, he told us to take our time
and left us alone. Mistakenly, I thought I had shaken
him.
On the way back to our car, Robert appeared again. He
asked if we had found anything we liked and again I said
that we were just looking and still had no idea whether
we wanted an SUV, a minivan or a 4 door. I thought that
level of vagueness, which was the actual truth, would
end the conversation. Not so.
Robert started in. “I understand your confusion.
There is so much to choose from. But just think of it
this way…what do you want it to do?” Then he shut up.
Instantly, my wife said it had to carry stuff from
the hardware store and be drivable by someone under five
feet tall. I insisted that it held 5-6 people and have
plenty of luggage room. Within two minutes Robert had
gathered every requirement that we had discussed
together as we considered a new car.
His next comment was irresistible. He asked, “May I
show you a car that fits that description and will
absolutely astound you?” How do you say no to someone
who has just offered to give you exactly what you wanted
and needed? You don't, and that's the point.
I have to admit that I don't find many shining
examples of great salesmanship at car dealerships, but
Robert was an exception. What he understood was the
essence of consultative selling. Be of service,
determine the need, and offer informed solutions.
At virtually every other dealership we visited, we
were either ignored or greeted by a sales person who was
quick to launch into the strengths of their brand
without a clue what we were looking for. They could have
been replaced with a tape machine that just played over
and over.
Most companies spend weeks teaching their new sales
people the details of their product or service. They
want to create experts who can go out into the world and
serve their clients. While that's all well and good,
most spend a small fraction of that time teaching their
new recruits how to sell those same products or
services.
In my experience, there is little correlation between
product expertise and sales results. Don't get me wrong,
I think product knowledge is critical to success. I just
don't see that the ones who know it best are the ones
who sell the most. In fact, I often find top sales
performers who are adept at leveraging off the knowledge
of others because they know they lack some of the depth
required to consummate the deal.
The best sales people are the ones that have the
desire and the ability to determine what the client
wants and needs, and the skill to match them with a set
of possible solutions. That's consultative selling.
You might also be interested in a new article
entitled, “How to Leave a Voice Mail That Gets Results”.
You can get a free copy by sending an email to
article16@waterhousegroup.com.
Steve Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse
Group (www.waterhousegroup.com), a sales consulting and
training company that helps companies dramatically
increase their sales. He can be reached at
1-800-57-LEARN or
info@waterhousegroup.com.
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