We are told “customer is king and the customer is always right” and these things are true to some extent but our value in a transaction is often as high if not higher than the customer we are selling to.
After all, there are way more customers to sell to than there are suitable businesses to buy from let alone ones that offer great advice and great customer service
Here’s a couple of very common phrases that sales people use that de-value their position in the eyes of a client
“I’ll just take 10 minutes of your time”
“Thanks so much for your time”
“I’m just calling about….”
You get the idea – we are making ourselves sound less important than the people we sell to.
I remember a conversation I had with one of my early mentors when I sold Quiksilver and Rip Curl.
We were talking about a particularly “prickly” retailer who had a habit of speaking very rudely and abruptly
to agents.
For a reason I can’t recall, I had been on the rough end of one of his rants..
My mentor said something to me on that day “sometimes we forget that clients need us as much, if not more than we need them”
Which if you think about it is pretty spot on…
Good business relationships are formed when there is an equal exchange of energy between two business equals.
Our clients need us just as much if not more than we need them but often we forget that.
but you might think “my business is so competitive we have to try sell every opportunity we get”
And you know what ? I agree but you don’t have to unnecessarily disable your chances before you even get the chance
Replace “thank you for your time” with “great to meet you” replace “I’ll only take up 10 minutes of your time”
with “the process will typically take us 10 – 15 minutes – that OK with you ?”
There are a number of other phrases, words and overused cliche’s you must avoid at all costs in a client conversation if you want to improve your chances of starting and finishing a sales conversation that results in your client buying from you.
I will be allocating a big section of the upcoming Professional Sales Master Class in Perth going over these.
If you’d like to find out more about the Professional Sales Master Class simply click here