What I Hate* About Pushy Salespeople (and how not to p!ss off your prospects)

* I know that "hate" is a strong word, but pushy salespeople really get me worked up. 

(This article first appeared on Quintain Marketing's blog. Click here to view the original post)

True story: I just got home from a long day at work and I'm trying to make dinner for my kids. While I'm juggling a hot pan and a pot of boiling water, my dogs need to be fed and let outside, and I need to go through the mail that was delivered today. In the middle of it all the phone rings. It's "Mai" calling and she wants to know how I'm doing - how I'm really doing. The problem is that I don't know Mai and I don't know why she is calling, so I'm not quite sure why she would think I would interrupt my evening routine to have a conversation about how I'm really doing. Instead, I ask where she is calling from and before answering, she repeats her entire opening monologue which I now realize is clearly scripted. Then, instead of telling me where she is calling from, she goes on to say that she can help people like me get out of debt and asks if I feel like I could use her help. 

For real, sister? 

First of all, I don't know you. Second of all, I'm not in debt. And third of all, does this kind of pitch ever really work??!! 

This might be an extreme example but the reality is that there are pushy salespeople and poorly executed pitches happening all around us, all the time. From the salesperson at the mall who keeps trying to get me to buy a dress that I know doesn't fit well, to the guy who won't stop calling me at the office to try and sell me software I don't need, to the kid at a well-known chain store who continues to push a "purchase protection plan" after I've declined it, salespeople can be downright annoying.

When you think about it, this approach to sales is broken. There has been a massive shift over the last two decades in how people buy. It's well documented and there is plenty of data to support it. With more information available online, we as buyers usually start our purchasing process on Google and don't want to talk to a salesperson until we are about 70% of the way through our buying process. 

Why? 

We don't trust salespeople.

We're afraid to enter into a conversation with a salesperson without doing our research, so we go to Google and learn everything we can about that thing we want to buy, from what it costs, to what the problems are with it, to what others think about it. Our goal? To ensure that we are armed with plenty of information so that we don't feel we can be "taken advantage of." 

Think about that.

There is something fundamentally wrong when the assumption of a buyer is that the salesperson they are dealing with will take advantage of them, especially when you consider what that implies over the long term. If we as businesses start our relationship with new clients on a foundation that is devoid of trust, what does that say about the longevity of the customer relationship, or even our ability to build a relationship in the first place?

"THERE IS SOMETHING FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG WHEN THE ASSUMPTION OF A BUYER IS THAT THE SALESPERSON THEY ARE DEALING WITH WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM." (click to tweet this!)

 A BETTER APPROACH

The good news is that not all salespeople are obnoxious and annoying. There are some out there who take a different approach and see the value in not just forming a relationship with prospects, but actually helping prospects by solving their problems and answering their questions. These are the sales reps who sell the way people want to buy, and they are the ones who will be most successful in not just selling, but also building relationships with prospects and customers that stand the test of time. 

The best salespeople use an inbound sales methodology that emphasizes education over persuasion, and partnership over pressure. They get that buyers are skeptical and know that their job is to be helpful. They don't hound prospects and they don't use pushy tactics or boilerplate scripts. They DO create helpful content and offer prospects educational information, and they do work together with them to develop solutions that are win-win. 

The best salespeople are already using this approach, but unfortunately, they are in the minority. I believe - no, I hope - that we're in the early stages of a major shift that will see more salespeople changing their approach and using inbound methods. The only way this will actually happen is if research proves this approach to be more successful and we follow up the research with comprehensive training that supports salespeople and gives them the tools needed to succeed.

Success. That's what it's all about.

I have a confession to make. The truth is, I don't really "hate" all salespeople - just the ones who are pushy, spammy and obnoxious! And it kind of amazes me that more salespeople haven't realized the pushy approach doesn't work. For salespeople, success means closing more deals, so getting them to adopt inbound selling practices will require proof that inbound selling can help them do that.