By Greg Winteregg, CEO

The results are in

I recently had a survey done of one hundred people on Clearwater Beach with regards to their experiences in being sold.   Let’s take a look at some of the results.

What did you consider ‘Not Wanted’?

• 55% said the salesperson was ‘pushy, harassing or rude’

What did you consider ‘Awful’?

• 42% said the salesperson was ‘rude, had a bad attitude, yelling (that’s kind of hard to understand) and annoying.

What did you consider ‘Unacceptable’?

• 48% said the salesperson was ‘rude, disrespectful, pushy and mean’.

It appears the ‘Rude’ was the overall winner.  I would have answered these questions the same way, but I had to find out what was the reality of a hundred others.  I’ve felt this way before and you probably have also.  So that begs the question, “What is going through the mind of the sales rep that is creating these negative feelings among such a large majority of consumers?”

It goes without saying that these customers will quite probably never go back to that business and most certainly won’t refer friends and relatives.  Also, this ‘technique’ didn’t work and lead to a close.  So what were they thinking as they were rude, disrespectful, pushy and mean?

I can only speculate because I can’t get into the head of that rep but let’s take our best guess.

1. They were going for the close.

They put getting the sale ahead of taking care of the customer.  Once it appeared like the deal wasn’t going to close they got desperate and threw being polite, courteous and respectful out the window.  It’s true that there wasn’t anything to lose at that point; but what about future business and referrals?  Getting desperate and being pushy at the close may cost the rep more than just that one deal.

2. They weren’t listening to the prospect.

Let’s look at a possible example:  The rep wants to sell ‘A’ but the customer wants ‘Z’ .  The rep now begins to tell the prospect why they don’t want ‘Z’, why it’s bad and how ‘A’ is so much better.   Making people wrong will not get the close and guarantees no future business or referrals.

3. Putting their personal needs and wants ahead of those of the customer.

I think it’s a pretty normal reaction that when we don’t get what we want or were expecting that we can sometimes get upset.  So it follows that if the sales rep is now not getting what they wanted—a close—then they get upset.  So this qualifies as putting one’s own needs ahead of those of the prospect.  And the more upset the sales rep gets the faster the prospect will run away.  The best thing to do is to move on to the next prospect.

Balance is the key.

It really is a delicate balance of helping the prospect overcome their objections and crossing the line and being perceived as ‘pushy’ and in it just for your own personal gain.  At Matterhorn, we propose that the sales rep puts the customer first and helps them solve the problem they have presented.  Be the solution and avoid the reactions stated above.

Stay tuned.

In my next blog, I will give the other side of the survey.  What did the one hundred people on Clearwater Beach find Good, Worthwhile, Valuable and Infinitely Valuable?

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