“I’m here to buy a printer,” I announced after the salesperson in the computer store asked if he could help me.
“Yes sir” he replied, “Please follow me to the printer section.”
“We have a number of printers ranging from the cheapest here to the most expensive over there. I would recommend this one because it’s the middle range and it’s very popular with our customers… in fact we can hardly keep enough in the store, it’s the latest model of this type, produces 6 pages a minute, has an enhanced DPI of…. Enhanced imaging, will give you very good quality photo imaging…”
I was both fascinated and bored at the same time.
- Fascinated because I was intrigued why he would assume or even think I would want all the features or be even remotely interested in what he had to say or what he thought was best.
- Bored because none of what he said made sense to me. It was all far too technical; based on what the printers do generally, as opposed to what they could specifically do for me.
And why was I bored?
Because he didn’t INVOLVE me. He assumed as the ‘expert’, he should tell me what he thinks.
What he didn’t realise is that I’m the expert in what I want and why I want it!
So, I decided to help him.
“Would you allow me to help you and possibly save us both a lot of time?” I asked him.
“Sure!” he replied.
“Well, I presently have a printer. It’s an HP… I’ve had it for 3 years and up until now it’s done a great job. I want to replace it. The reasons are… it’s noisy… the color doesn’t match my office décor… it’s also too big and it doesn’t have wireless capability. Printing quality is not important, as I only need it for rough drafts because I write a lot and like to look at what I write on paper. With that in mind it has to be robust. It would be useful for it to be fast… very fast. I think that seems to be it. What do you have that would meet that criteria?”
“Two models come to mind, this one and this one” he said pointing at two nearby, neither of which he recommended when he first started.
“What’s the difference?” I asked.
“Nothing, except the price and the color. They both do exactly the same thing. Does either one fit what you’re looking for?”
That was the first time he asked me a question!
“Yes! That one. I’ll take it!”
“You’ve just taken the most expensive of the two’ he said seemingly attempting to reduce his commission.
“That’s OK! The color’s right and I’m assuming it will do all the things I just asked?”
He was lucky!
What if I hadn’t thought it out clearly what I wanted? What if I hadn’t done HIS job and gave him the answers to the questions HE should have asked?
I probably would have ended up confused, frustrated and gone into the ‘I want to think about it’ mode.’
Do you assume what your potential customers want and why they would buy it just as this salesman did with me?
If you do, I’m guaranteeing you’re losing most of your potential customers.
Take a look at my ‘answers’ to the questions he didn’t ask.
Put a question you would ask in front of each answer and you’ll see how easy it is to make your life and everyone else’s easier, more profitable and happier.
If you want to help more people tell you exactly what they want in less time and get faster results, make sure you then you have to register for one of my training courses; and where better to start than – Discover the 3 Main Causes of Rejection and Objections – and what you can do about it!
It could change your life!
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