By Teresa (Hilligoss) Goodnight
TGoodnight@zayo.com
Part 5 of Guest Blogger Teresa Hilligoss Goodnight’s series “SALES AND CUSTOMER SERVICE: TELECOM EVOLUTION’S MISSING LINK?”
Here’s a great personal experience with a top sales person from TV Guide (the channel, not the little magazine) in action. When I was 24, I was looking for a new apartment. One of the top sales people owned a condo that she was advertising for lease. The price was $750 a month. It needed some decorating, but was in a great location, close to the office, close to shopping, felt safe and I really liked it. I didn’t tell her that. While discussing it with her, TV Guide suddenly needed to send me to NYC for 2 weeks for work. While I was gone, (as this was pre-me affording a cell phone for personal use)-she couldn’t get in touch with me. In her first message, she said she wanted a good renter and lowered the price to $650. In the second, she said she was remarrying and was too busy to find someone else and went to $550. By the third message, she was asking that I please call her back because she wanted to get it rented for $500. The next, she expressed worry that I just wasn’t interested and dropped the price to $450. When I returned-I played her messages on my old answering machine for all my friends. It was hysterical. I called her back. I offered to do some painting and wallpapering to update it if she purchased the materials. For the labor, I asked for a reduction in the rent price to $300 per month. She took it and I lived there for four years (until I found a similar rental situation that I got for the exact same unbelievably cheap rent in an even better part of town with similar tactics). I laugh to this day that she might’ve paid me to live there if I had been gone for a whole month. I learned a lot of valuable lessons through that experience-her bad salesmanship to be precise. I learned in negotiation to talk less/listen more and find out what really matters. I was able to learn what she valued: a good renter, a little TLC, and to not have to worry about the property. Let’s all keep in mind-I’m no genius–this was COMPLETELY by accident-but nevertheless, more beneficial to me in life than many a college course I’ve had.
Most sales people walk into a customer meeting with a “me me me us us us” pitch. Little time is spent with probing questions like “What are your team goals for the year? How can we help you accomplish those goals? What are your biggest concerns/issues you are facing with vendors today?” It’s not a novel idea-but it’s one easily forgotten. If for whatever reason, you can’t get this information from the buyer, then to find the second easiest step you may only have to look as far as your own personal buying habits. What would motivate you to buy if you were in their position? What would be your obstacles to committing? What would cause you to shut down and walk away? What would make you keep coming back?
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Teresa,
What a great post! It’s amazing to see how many salespeople don’t understand the value of asking open ended questions and SILENCE. I hope you’ll keep blogging I’ve really enjoyed the series.
Teresa, this is one of my favorite posts in your series.
Great stuff again T…always a pleasure to read.