I was just working on my computer and it seems that every web page I tried to access is a web page that my security settings didn't allow (and no wise cracks). I kept getting error massages and needed to click here or try another URL to get to where I wanted to be.
This made me start to think. I was looking at all these messages as a problem, but the truth is they were helping me solve a problem. The computer program was letting me know I did something wrong and guided me on how to fix it. Wouldn’t it be nice if customers would do the same thing?
Imagine if you were talking to a customer and when you started to show a new product or service the customer help up a sign that said, “YOU MADE AN ERROR, I DON’T NEED THAT, BUT DO YOU HAVE…”, or how about while you are talking to the customer they held up a sign that said, “YOU ARE MAKING AN ERROR, I AM IN A RUSH AND WISH YOU WOULD GET TO THE POINT”. Can you imagine how easy it would make selling if each customer told you what you were doing wrong as you are doing it!
We have all had customers who stopped doing business with us and we never knew why. No error message ever popped up, and the customer didn’t tell you anything was wrong. This is a very frustrating thing to happen, and it happens every day to a hundreds maybe thousands of reps somewhere.
Without error messages to guide us what can we do to either stop making mistakes or at least know when we are making a mistake with a customer? My first instinct says ask! By probing a customer you can find a lot of information out that can help you avoid mistakes like taking too much time or showing the wrong products or service.
We can also learn to read body language better. What is the customer saying even when they are not talking at all? There are books that can teach you how to read body language, one of my favorite books on the subject is “The Definitive Book of Body Language” by Barbara and Allan Pease. After reading this book and using what it teaches you, your customers will be speaking volumes without ever opening their mouths.
Since customers don’t give us error messages, it is up to us to always be getting better at our craft and becoming better at noticing things, hearing things, and asking questions. But the number one item we need to always be improving are our basic selling skills. From the “Hello” to the “Thank You, Goodbye” we need to get better at what we do every day. By becoming better at selling we can minimize the chance of needing an error message.
Until our customers come with keyboards and monitors, they will most likely not send error messages, but we can do without them if we just keep listening, learning, observing, and selling like a pro!
Lorin
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