I could not write a “Sales Tips” Blog without mentioning the first impression. Most people know that the first impression sets the tone for the rest of the sales call. A lot of people don’t give that fact the respect it deserves.
A prospective customer can tell so much about you from the first impression, that a bad one can be a deal breaker. There are many reasons for that, but in this article I am going to share with you one reason that has to do with another bit of technology. It is called the relationship triad. This actually has to do with friendship, but is also hugely in effect when it comes to sales. That’s why I renamed it for the title of this article. :)
It is very simple. As with all triads, it has three parts:
Respect
Trust
Friendship
Pay close attention to the order. It all starts with respect. You cannot really trust someone that you do not respect and you cannot really share a friendship with someone whom you do not trust. Most people don’t think about this, but if you take a second and give it some thought, you will know that it is true. So what does that have to do with sales? Am I telling you that you have to be friends with all of your prospects or customers? Of course not. I mean, it would sound all nice and warm and fuzzy to say that, but I am not here to blow smoke. I am a realist and I know that you are not going to be friends with even a small percentage of your customers. I AM saying however, that you need to develop a degree of trust to be an effective sales person. For that, you will need to first to develop… yep, respect!
Okay, so you are on your way to a sales call and you’re wondering, “So how do I build respect?” There are two very easy and effective ways to do that:
1 - Give respect (You need to give respect to get it back)
2 – Show that you respect yourself (no one will respect someone who does not respect themselves)
“Okay, give respect. I can do that. No problem. Show that I respect myself? Hmmmmmm…” Let me give you an example of what I mean. Those of you who have read some of my earlier articles or my bio, know that I am a service plumber. People call me out to their homes to give them a free estimate on fixing things like leaks under their sink, dripping faucets, water heaters that no longer give out hot water, etc (a sales call). It is my job to convince them that I am the one who should fix that problem. It is also my job to find and fix every bit of plumbing that they have in their home that is broken, or about to be broken – even the stuff under their house that they don’t know about (yet). I have three rules:
1 - I never sell a customer something they don’t need (unless I tell them they don’t need it)
2 – I make sure that nobody can ever come after me and say they could have done what I did better.
3 – I will not compromise my integrity.
So anyway, I want you to think “plumber” and tell me the picture you have in your head. Got it? Good, Now I will explain how I go about a service sales call and point out the different areas where I build respect.
First of all, I make sure I arrive on time. If I am going to be late for a sales call for any reason, I call my customer and tell them (respect for their time). Keep in mind that if you have an appointment window for a sales call between 9-10am, at 8:55, your customer is wondering where you are. At 9:01, you are late. Even though you are within your window, your customer is left waiting. Calling them before your window and telling them exactly when you will be there is showing respect for their time.
When I arrive, I do so in a clean truck (respecting myself). I NEVER park in their drive way. I park on the street (respecting their property). I knock on the door (or ring the bell). When they open the door, they will find me standing on their porch, a respectful distance from the door, with my body at roughly a 45 degree angle to their door (this is a passive, yet not disinterested stance that eases their mind a bit, and gives them some breathing room (showing respect)). They will look first at my smiling face (a salesman must always smile!), then to my clean boots (showing respect for myself) as I introduce myself. My standard introduction is usually, “Hi, John? I am Steve from Allstar Plumbing. I am here to fix your plumbing for you.” Polite, courteous and professional. Older people I will often call them by their last name (“Mr. Smith”). The other thing I did here was that by saying, “I am here to fix your plumbing for you”, I took the first step towards getting their mind off “estimate” and toward “fix” and I let them know that I was doing it for them. This is a sales technique that is closely tied to “the power of yes”, which I will write about at another time.
As you can see, I have barely opened the door, and already I am building respect. As I am introducing myself, the prospect is looking me over. My hand is extended in an invitation to shake hands (giving respect). Actually it is extended at about a 45 degree angle, so that they can see the palm. Guess what? Yep, my hands are spotlessly clean. I repeat, I am a plumber and my hands are spotlessly clean! My face is also clean. In fact, my uniform consists of a white uniform shirt, which is also spotless and I smell, ever so slightly, of cologne (I stress slightly). This is all showing a respect for myself that just screams “PROFESSIONAL”.
Remember that picture of the plumber that you had in your head earlier? How am I comparing?
Okay, so I shook hands with the prospective customer. I wait for them to invite me in. I will just stand there, wiping my feet on the porch mat until they invite me in (respect for their home). I will follow them to whatever they want to show me and I will listen. I need to digress for a moment here and stress the importance of listing when it cones to sales. The number one rule of sales is “listen”. It is what separates the pros from the amateurs. Not only does it show respect for the customer, but it gives you ammunition to use for the close. I had a job I went to about a month ago. The family had 4 toilets in their home (including the one in the back house), and none of them flushed correctly. These folks had two other plumbers at their home. Both told them that they needed to replace all of the toilets. I was the third one to show up. I let them take me around and show me all the toilets. They explained their concerns about how they operated and I listened. I spent ½ hour just listening to them talk about the toilets. I would offer answers to their questions and such, but mostly I listened. From listening, I decided on the toilets that I thought would work best for them. They decided to go with 3 of them for now and signed a contract with me, on the spot, for over $1800. Just a few days ago, they called me back to have me replace the fourth. Why did I get the sale? I was likely the most expensive estimate. It was because I listened and was able to, not only make them feel that I cared about addressing their needs, but through listening, I was able to quote different toilets that would better work for them (and helped mask the difference in price).
Another way that you build respect with your sales prospects is by having confidence in your product. They have to believe that you are the one who is the expert at whatever it is they need done. They will respect you a LOT more if they believe that you know what you are doing. You have to be confident. Sales is all about confidence. The thing is that you don’t need to be confident that you know how to fix something or build something or whatever. You just need to have the confidence that you can figure it out. I have often been heard to say that “there is no such thing as plumbing I can’t fix”. It is not because I claim to know everything. It is because when I come across something I don’t know, I am confident that I can figure it out.
So, to get back on track here… The important thing is that once you start building respect, you cannot mess it up. Once I get the contract signed for the first scope of work, I go out to my truck, take off my uniform shirt, so that I am working in my (plain white) t-shirt, put on latex gloves, get my tools and parts, etc., and get to work. I make sure I use drop cloths and whatnot to make sure I do not make a mess, I clean up when I am done and always try to keep the area where I am working clean and tidy. If something frustrates me, I will go outside and have a smoke, but I will not get mad at the plumbing in front of the customer. I will let them know that this is a particularly stubborn xxxx and apologize for the extra time it’s taking, but that builds value, so that is fine. All the time I am there, I do nothing to let the respect slide. When I am done with the job, I go back to my truck and put my uniform shirt back on, after making sure that I am otherwize clean, so that when I aproach the customer with the bill (or the estimate for the other work they should be doing while I am there) I am back in uniform and looking just the way I was when I arrived. I am showing respect for them in that I am taking the time to make sure that I am in a presntable state to discuss business.
Trust will begin to form before you even begin work, but will build fast once the customer sees a product. They see that you did a great job of addressing what they wanted addressed. As long as you do not do something to violate their trust, you have free reign to sell them anything you think they should buy. That's where the oportunity to upsel comes in. Just do not violate their trust or game over. That is sales: it takes a lot of work to get a customer where you want them, but just 1 wrong move to screw it all up.
The company I work for had a customer for years that was absolutely loyal. They would call us and only us for anything she needed. She had a big, old house that she gave us thousands of dollars over the years to fix. Small things like faucets and big things like a sewer main replacement. We had her trust and her loyalty. She would do whatever we recommended. One day, we sent someone out to her home to take a look at a problem she thought she was developing. It turned out to be a non-plumbing related issue, but the tech charged her a $48 diagnostic fee. We lost that customer over $48. We were within our policy to charge her, but we shouldn’t have. It showed no respect for the loyalty she gave us. One of our managers personally returned the check to her, but by that time it was too late. Never violate the customers trust, or you will never get it back.
I hope these are helping you to sell more and for more money. I think I will write my next Sales Tips article on “Value-based” selling. See you soon. Go sell stuff!
A prospective customer can tell so much about you from the first impression, that a bad one can be a deal breaker. There are many reasons for that, but in this article I am going to share with you one reason that has to do with another bit of technology. It is called the relationship triad. This actually has to do with friendship, but is also hugely in effect when it comes to sales. That’s why I renamed it for the title of this article. :)
It is very simple. As with all triads, it has three parts:
Respect
Trust
Friendship
Pay close attention to the order. It all starts with respect. You cannot really trust someone that you do not respect and you cannot really share a friendship with someone whom you do not trust. Most people don’t think about this, but if you take a second and give it some thought, you will know that it is true. So what does that have to do with sales? Am I telling you that you have to be friends with all of your prospects or customers? Of course not. I mean, it would sound all nice and warm and fuzzy to say that, but I am not here to blow smoke. I am a realist and I know that you are not going to be friends with even a small percentage of your customers. I AM saying however, that you need to develop a degree of trust to be an effective sales person. For that, you will need to first to develop… yep, respect!
Okay, so you are on your way to a sales call and you’re wondering, “So how do I build respect?” There are two very easy and effective ways to do that:
1 - Give respect (You need to give respect to get it back)
2 – Show that you respect yourself (no one will respect someone who does not respect themselves)
“Okay, give respect. I can do that. No problem. Show that I respect myself? Hmmmmmm…” Let me give you an example of what I mean. Those of you who have read some of my earlier articles or my bio, know that I am a service plumber. People call me out to their homes to give them a free estimate on fixing things like leaks under their sink, dripping faucets, water heaters that no longer give out hot water, etc (a sales call). It is my job to convince them that I am the one who should fix that problem. It is also my job to find and fix every bit of plumbing that they have in their home that is broken, or about to be broken – even the stuff under their house that they don’t know about (yet). I have three rules:
1 - I never sell a customer something they don’t need (unless I tell them they don’t need it)
2 – I make sure that nobody can ever come after me and say they could have done what I did better.
3 – I will not compromise my integrity.
So anyway, I want you to think “plumber” and tell me the picture you have in your head. Got it? Good, Now I will explain how I go about a service sales call and point out the different areas where I build respect.
First of all, I make sure I arrive on time. If I am going to be late for a sales call for any reason, I call my customer and tell them (respect for their time). Keep in mind that if you have an appointment window for a sales call between 9-10am, at 8:55, your customer is wondering where you are. At 9:01, you are late. Even though you are within your window, your customer is left waiting. Calling them before your window and telling them exactly when you will be there is showing respect for their time.
When I arrive, I do so in a clean truck (respecting myself). I NEVER park in their drive way. I park on the street (respecting their property). I knock on the door (or ring the bell). When they open the door, they will find me standing on their porch, a respectful distance from the door, with my body at roughly a 45 degree angle to their door (this is a passive, yet not disinterested stance that eases their mind a bit, and gives them some breathing room (showing respect)). They will look first at my smiling face (a salesman must always smile!), then to my clean boots (showing respect for myself) as I introduce myself. My standard introduction is usually, “Hi, John? I am Steve from Allstar Plumbing. I am here to fix your plumbing for you.” Polite, courteous and professional. Older people I will often call them by their last name (“Mr. Smith”). The other thing I did here was that by saying, “I am here to fix your plumbing for you”, I took the first step towards getting their mind off “estimate” and toward “fix” and I let them know that I was doing it for them. This is a sales technique that is closely tied to “the power of yes”, which I will write about at another time.
As you can see, I have barely opened the door, and already I am building respect. As I am introducing myself, the prospect is looking me over. My hand is extended in an invitation to shake hands (giving respect). Actually it is extended at about a 45 degree angle, so that they can see the palm. Guess what? Yep, my hands are spotlessly clean. I repeat, I am a plumber and my hands are spotlessly clean! My face is also clean. In fact, my uniform consists of a white uniform shirt, which is also spotless and I smell, ever so slightly, of cologne (I stress slightly). This is all showing a respect for myself that just screams “PROFESSIONAL”.
Remember that picture of the plumber that you had in your head earlier? How am I comparing?
Okay, so I shook hands with the prospective customer. I wait for them to invite me in. I will just stand there, wiping my feet on the porch mat until they invite me in (respect for their home). I will follow them to whatever they want to show me and I will listen. I need to digress for a moment here and stress the importance of listing when it cones to sales. The number one rule of sales is “listen”. It is what separates the pros from the amateurs. Not only does it show respect for the customer, but it gives you ammunition to use for the close. I had a job I went to about a month ago. The family had 4 toilets in their home (including the one in the back house), and none of them flushed correctly. These folks had two other plumbers at their home. Both told them that they needed to replace all of the toilets. I was the third one to show up. I let them take me around and show me all the toilets. They explained their concerns about how they operated and I listened. I spent ½ hour just listening to them talk about the toilets. I would offer answers to their questions and such, but mostly I listened. From listening, I decided on the toilets that I thought would work best for them. They decided to go with 3 of them for now and signed a contract with me, on the spot, for over $1800. Just a few days ago, they called me back to have me replace the fourth. Why did I get the sale? I was likely the most expensive estimate. It was because I listened and was able to, not only make them feel that I cared about addressing their needs, but through listening, I was able to quote different toilets that would better work for them (and helped mask the difference in price).
Another way that you build respect with your sales prospects is by having confidence in your product. They have to believe that you are the one who is the expert at whatever it is they need done. They will respect you a LOT more if they believe that you know what you are doing. You have to be confident. Sales is all about confidence. The thing is that you don’t need to be confident that you know how to fix something or build something or whatever. You just need to have the confidence that you can figure it out. I have often been heard to say that “there is no such thing as plumbing I can’t fix”. It is not because I claim to know everything. It is because when I come across something I don’t know, I am confident that I can figure it out.
So, to get back on track here… The important thing is that once you start building respect, you cannot mess it up. Once I get the contract signed for the first scope of work, I go out to my truck, take off my uniform shirt, so that I am working in my (plain white) t-shirt, put on latex gloves, get my tools and parts, etc., and get to work. I make sure I use drop cloths and whatnot to make sure I do not make a mess, I clean up when I am done and always try to keep the area where I am working clean and tidy. If something frustrates me, I will go outside and have a smoke, but I will not get mad at the plumbing in front of the customer. I will let them know that this is a particularly stubborn xxxx and apologize for the extra time it’s taking, but that builds value, so that is fine. All the time I am there, I do nothing to let the respect slide. When I am done with the job, I go back to my truck and put my uniform shirt back on, after making sure that I am otherwize clean, so that when I aproach the customer with the bill (or the estimate for the other work they should be doing while I am there) I am back in uniform and looking just the way I was when I arrived. I am showing respect for them in that I am taking the time to make sure that I am in a presntable state to discuss business.
Trust will begin to form before you even begin work, but will build fast once the customer sees a product. They see that you did a great job of addressing what they wanted addressed. As long as you do not do something to violate their trust, you have free reign to sell them anything you think they should buy. That's where the oportunity to upsel comes in. Just do not violate their trust or game over. That is sales: it takes a lot of work to get a customer where you want them, but just 1 wrong move to screw it all up.
The company I work for had a customer for years that was absolutely loyal. They would call us and only us for anything she needed. She had a big, old house that she gave us thousands of dollars over the years to fix. Small things like faucets and big things like a sewer main replacement. We had her trust and her loyalty. She would do whatever we recommended. One day, we sent someone out to her home to take a look at a problem she thought she was developing. It turned out to be a non-plumbing related issue, but the tech charged her a $48 diagnostic fee. We lost that customer over $48. We were within our policy to charge her, but we shouldn’t have. It showed no respect for the loyalty she gave us. One of our managers personally returned the check to her, but by that time it was too late. Never violate the customers trust, or you will never get it back.
I hope these are helping you to sell more and for more money. I think I will write my next Sales Tips article on “Value-based” selling. See you soon. Go sell stuff!
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