?? Making It Rain... Respectfully (aka Closing Deals, the Respectful Way) ??

Several years ago, I was in the market for a new car. I’d done my research, decided on a vehicle, and headed into my local dealership prepared for the usual slimy, over-the-top, glad-handing sales experience.

At first the sales associate behaved exactly as I expected: he was overly friendly, smiled too much and used my name one too many times. But as we walked over to look at the specific model I was interested in, he surprised the heck out of me.

“It sounds like you’ve done your research,” he said. “So, I’m betting that before we go any further, you’ll want to know if the mileage we’re showing on the window sticker is the actual mileage the car gets. Have I got that right?”

He was exactly right. I knew that the manufacturer had only recently settled a massive lawsuit after they’d been prosecuted for falsifying their mileage reports. It was one of my biggest concerns about buying that brand of car.

He went on, “I can tell you that we admitted what we’d done, we’ve paid our fines and our settlement, and have made sure that all of the mileage reports and the stickers on our cars are 100% accurate.”

I was blown away: here was a car salesman admitting that his company had screwed up and telling me exactly what they’d done to make amends. He did it in a way that I felt was respectful of me as a buyer, and incredibly honest and vulnerable at the same time.

Instantly, my level of respect for and trust in him and the manufacturer went up. After a healthy negotiation, I leased the car. Through him, I’ve leased three more of that manufacturer’s car since then and have always been completely satisfied.

What was his secret sales technique? Instead of “selling” me the vehicle, he made a sincere attempt to live up to what we at CRL call the “Four Conditions of Trust.” These are:

1. Competency

2. Openness & Honesty

3. Concern for Your Customers’ Best Interests

4. Reliability

With over 25 years of experience selling training programs, executive coaching, and consulting, we’ve found that usually, if we authentically satisfy these four conditions with our prospective clients, then we will win the business.

Here’s a breakdown…

1.  Competency – this is all about demonstrating to your prospective customer that you know what you’re doing. To do this, typically companies and salespeople will inform the customer how long they’ve been in business, or in their specific sales role, or how many satisfied customers they’ve had over the years. Or they might display their credentials, such as awards and certifications, in their workplace or in their promotional materials. This is often why you see relators’ flyers contain the phrase, “XX years of proudly serving (name of your town),” and home improvement advertising magazines with vendors’ ads featuring their professional certifications and affiliations with major, well-known, and respected brands. NOTE: competence is best demonstrated confidently, not arrogantly. Avoid boasting as most people find it to be disrespectful.

2.  Openness & Honesty – as I mentioned, the car sales associate I was working with was open and honest with me, even though he was disclosing information that might make it less likely for him to win the sale. The fact is most people are wary of salespeople because of bad experiences or horror stories told by colleagues, family, and friends about being lied to, tricked, or misinformed. We tend to be on our guard with them.

     To counteract this tendency, put your customers at ease, and have them perceive you as respectful, try asking questions that help you identify your customers’ pain points before you start “selling” your product. It’s a technique called “Consultative Sales,” and it’s about creating an open dialogue in which you identify and provide solutions to a customer's needs. It is a laser focus on the customer, and less on the product being sold. In most cases, you should start asking these questions early in the sales process.

3.  Concern for Your Customers’ Best Interests – Another common reason people are so wary of the sales experience is that they know that most salespeople are motivated, incentivized and rewarded by one metric: the number of sales they close. So understandably, we assume that a salesperson is more concerned with their own best interests (selling more) than they are with ours (getting the best product that meets our needs and desires).

     Again, this is where the Consultative Sales technique can be so helpful. Early on in the process, try asking your prospective customer a simple question: “Are you trying to address a specific need or challenge that you have?” Most customers appreciate this question because it shows you’re interested in meeting their needs. It also feels “respectful” to them; that you’re more interested in making them happy, rather than serving yourself. And, although it sounds counterintuitive, at CRL we’ve found that if we can’t meet a customers’ needs, then we say so respectfully and refer them to a reliable and competent product or service provider who can. Usually, that customer will come back to us at some point in the future looking for a service or product that we do provide.

4.  Reliability – this is all about doing what you say you’re going to do, when you said you were going to do it, and following through on your commitments. For example, if you promise to follow up with a customer, or provide them with additional information, then you’d better do those things, and do them when you said you would. Because if you don’t, your customer will assume you’re unreliable. Think about it this way, when was the last time you felt comfortable buying something from a salesperson you thought was unreliable?

In short, successfully and respectfully closing a sales deal is far less about your skill at negotiating or wowing your customers with product features and benefits. It’s all about you sincerely meeting the Four Conditions of Trust: Competence, Openness and Honesty, Concern for Their Best Interests, and Reliability. If you focus on these, and use consultative sales techniques appropriately, you’ll measurably improve your chances of closing a deal, respectfully.

Want Training on Consultative Selling? Learn more about what we do and say hello at [email protected]