Continuing our look at “Know, like and trust” and other factors involved in the sales process, let’s take it in one more direction.
As a quick review, we’ve looked thus far at the following:
1. “All things being equal (or even close to such) people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.”
2. There are times when things are so far from equal in certain areas that “know, like and trust” simply are not enough to bring in the sale.
3. Sometimes, the product or service and all other aspects of it are fine, yet you are hearing “no” consistently and much too often. In that case, the issue is most likely you.
Now, let’s look at one final possibility. This was brought up by my friend, Networking Authority Beth Bridges, who said,
“I think that ‘know, like and trust’ is enough the vast majority of the time…It is ‘enough’ so much of the time that you would be foolish to ignore or discount it. Then, once you find yourself well-liked, appreciated, and trusted but still not making the sales you think you should, then examine your product/service.”
Excellent point. Of course, as pointed out in the last article, be careful not to blame the product or service and other factors as being the cause, if they are not.
However, if they are, you now have a choice.
1. Keep doing what you’re doing, not say anything to management, not sell a whole lot, and feel badly when you do sell because you don’t believe in what you’re selling. {obviously, not the correct choice}
2. Approach management and get some changes made.
3. Find a product or service you feel so good about that you know in your heart of hearts that, whenever you help someone own it, they will be receiving much more in value than what they are paying for it, while you and the company you represent will make a healthy profit in exchange for the great value you are providing.
Before choosing any of the above three, just make sure that your trouble really “is” the product or service. Any question about it, please refer back to the previous article.
So, have you ever experienced the above? Where a change in product really was the difference? I don’t think it happens as much as needing to change ourselves, but it certainly can happen from time to time. Agree? Disagree?
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Good piece Bob! Yes, I have been in that situation and I wasn’t in a position to do anything in getting management to change the product or service. After numerous incidents of attracting people who had problems with the product, I decided to find a company that had products/services that were of the same quality of value I was capable of giving to people. A few of my experiences were the normal “product is bad and I want a refund” type of “fix it” solution. However, when it’s simply not a life changing product/service for them as it is for me, but we’ve built a nice relationship/rapport, they welcome learning of my new updates later on. 🙂
Bob, Another great series. Is it really the product or the service is such an interesting question. Do you think sometimes we internalize the customer objections to the point of questioning the value of our offers?
That points us right back to our approaches. Customer objections are signals. When we “buy into” the objections, we’ve missed the turn somehow?
Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Such a good blog that inspires great discussion. Thank you!
Hi Dondi, I think you are absolutely correct.We do indeed buy into customers’ objections and relay those complaints to management thinking that if only management will “fix” them we’ll then be fine. However, if our belief in the value we are providing (via our product/service and the additional value we provide over and above that) is strong enough, we then operate out of an entirely different mindset. One in which – as my friend, Jack Maitland says – we are “ten feet tall and bulletproof.” That is why understanding the value we provide is so vitally important. Hmmm, I think this is another blog post. Do you want to write this one on yours or should I write this on mine? 🙂
Thank you, Mary. Excellent information. Thank you for sharing with us.
Bob,
Really enjoying this series! The best information always comes after you say “so what?” in reply to each answer until you really get down to the gold nugget.
Here’s a great example of “maybe it is the product.” The Clovis Chamber runs an event called “Big Hat Days.” 400 food, craft and business vendors meet 150,000 people in the streets of our down town over two days. Some vendors do very well. The people with the $5 “marshmallow shooter” sold 650 of them in two days. A mom-daughter team with tie-dye was extremely pleased with their sales. Most of the vendors I talked to were very happy with their level of sales.
A few weren’t. What makes the difference? Their product. Not that they were bad products (everyone is screened). But maybe the wrong item for the type of crowd. Or just a little bit ahead (or behind) the trend. Or not quite the right price.
So in the case of a craft show or even a trade show where people are attending and seeing you for the first time, you can definitely narrow it down to product or price.
… or can you? There might be more to the story and I think I’ll have to blog about it 🙂