This article comes courtesy of Magi Bird – CEO of Real Equity Marketor
When I opened my first small brokerage, I activated a business license. Within two days, a sales representative from every office equipment and supply company in town walked in my front door without an appointment. Every one of them wanted to sell me a copier. First, it was their big ticket item. Second, buying the unit from them ensured additional and continuing sales of service contracts and supplies. Third, “every business had to have one.” As a new business owner, I had different priorities. I wanted them out from under foot as I set up shop. I wanted them to make an appointment because I considered my time more valuable than theirs. Finally, I had just purchased a copier that had cost the lion’s share of my opening budget and expected it to last for the next 20 years, so I did not want to defend my choice to strangers. I found it very easy to suggest that they hit the road and never darken my door without an appointment again!
I hired my staff and my first sales agents. After six months, my sales agents started lobbying for a fax machine. It was new technology and very expensive. Only the local title companies and banks could afford those marvelous machines. Like most new business owners, I was very short on cash and unwilling to admit that it was financially out of reach. I thought about my experience opening the business and the type of salespeople I had met during the process. They were the kind of salespeople I never wanted associated with my firm. Finally, inspiration struck. I found a way to drive the “service not sales” message home and defer the proposed expense by making a promise I knew I could keep. I told the staff that the next time a salesman came to the office and actually asked me what I needed, no matter what company the salesperson represented, I would buy a fax machine.
Four years later, at a vastly reduced price, I bought one from Costco.
The point is this: Whenever you are face to face with a client or customer, if you are working on your agenda—talking about your product or pushing your idea—you are in sales, not service. Your customer is not fooled for a second. They may like you, but they will not buy from you, especially in tough financial times. When every dollar counts, the difference between the “salesman” and the “serviceman” is more than a few letters—it is “cost” verses “value.” People who deliver needed services in uncertain times are allies and friends, support, and reinforcement. In the mind of the customer, they are trusted, valuable, and significant. The salesman, however, is there to “pick your pocket.” If he wins, you lose. Everyone has felt the urge to walk away when the used car salesman approaches on the car lot.
Whether customers walk in the front door, call on the phone, are referred to you, saw your ad, or read your blog, don’t ever mentally lug the copier! You will never earn a dime from a customer until you earn his or her trust. How much you know about your product or subject doesn’t matter, unless the product is something customers already knows they need. The customer called, walked in, or asked someone who to call for a reason: because the person has a problem. Customer do not want to tell you because they might be “sold,” and they cannot afford buyer’s remorse. So, how do you change salesmanship to “servicemanship”?
The key is in a single sentence: What about that (ad, house, car, boat, policy, product, program, etc.) caught your eye? The customer’s answer to that question will hold the key to the need. If you will listen, you will hear the need that needs to be filled, and filling it will get you paid. The follow up to the above question involves subjective questioning, a technique not taught in sales school. It will, however, if properly done, earn you a client for life. In the next issue: “Subjective Questioning.” Those who are impatient can visit my website, Realty Equity Marketor for the rest of the story!
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