Sales is Service: Here’s How You Provide Value and Close the Sale Without Being ‘Salesy’
When someone says “sales,” your immediate reaction is probably, “Ughhhh!” You picture that sales-y used car dealership guy with the creeper mustache. I get it. In previous history, sales often held a negative connotation. There are a few of those shady ass crooked people who have ruined the word “sales” by doing these things:
Being overly pushy
Selling a product that didnt do what they said it would
Promotions of falsely advertised benefit
Not staying in their lane and selling products/services outside their expertise
Being the “one stop shop”
The list goes on and on — so much so that people today often push back against any notion that they have to sell something. I hear the phrase, “I don’t wanna be ‘sales-y’” from a lot of my own clients. Especially in healthcare when that phrase sounds more like, “I don’t want to sell anything. I’m not a sales person. I feel its unethical to sell to patients.”
Here’s the thing, sales is about service. It’s not about cons or games or bad customer relations. In fact, when you serve people, the sale comes naturally. And as far as ethics go — It is unethical to preach about your services or products when you have never used them. It is unethical to not offer supreme customer service. It is unethical to not sell someone a product or service that could help them achieve a goal, no matter what that goal is.
How people are treated should always come first. This is sales. This is customer service.
So how do you sell without coming across in the negative tones that sales often has? That’s what I’m breaking down for you in this blog.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
There is an old saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Showing someone how much you care is compassion and customer service. Sales, when done correctly, is also about showing people you care.
If I go to buy a new car, and the first sales person I talk to starts rattling off all the technical garbage about the car—“It goes zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds. It has a 7.2 L, V10 engine that’s twin turbo supercharged, and LED lights that blink on the dash to indicate you’re in prime driving mode. It’s got this suspension system that allows you take a turn at 9,000 mph. It’s got....”—seriously, you lost me. Some of you might be into that kind of thing. Good for you. I’m not.
I want to know my child will be safe in the car. I travel a lot, so I want to know about the gas mileage. I want to know how the service plan on the vehicle works, and if it’s going to cost me an arm and a leg. I care about totally different things than what this idiot is rattling off.
It would be different if he had started the conversation by saying, “Hi. Thanks for your time today. Glad you came to our dealership. Tell me, what are the 3 most important things to you when you’re buying a car?” Now he knows where to start and what to show me. This person has made a great first impression and now has my attention because about serving my needs rather selling me on some tech-y BS I care nothing about.
Train your team (and yourself) on how to actually gather information, and find out what is important to your potential customers. Give a damn about the person more than getting the sale. Once you show you care about the person on the other end of the phone or table or zoom — the sale is made naturally.
TIP: Don’t ever start with the budget question — “What’s your budget?'“ UGH. People don’t buy solely based upon price, and price is usually never the real objection when it comes to making a purchase. The real objection is typically the perceived value for the price. If someone has an objection to the price of the services you offer, it’s usually because you haven’t built the value up enough to justify the cost. Don’t sell people based on price. Sell people based on the value of satisfying a need.
VALUE
Value is what you are giving your clients/customers that will keep them coming back and telling more and more people about you. These are the reasons people will pass other similar places of business while driving to yours or searching on google.
It’s the same reason you might choose one movie theater over another, even though it’s further from your home. Every movie theater is pretty much showing the same movies at any given time, but one might have more comfortable seats, or serve you a real meal, or has an easier way to book online, or the staff may be friendlier and more personable.
Value is the reason you choose one particular gas station on a corner where 3 other ones exist. Maybe the particular gas station you like fills up the car for you, always calls you by name, always cleans your windshield, always hands you a bottle of water, and generates conversation with you.
At this point, the consumer is no longer concerned about cost. It has nothing to do with price. It has to do with being sold on the service. And maybe you pay a little more for this service, but guess what? You don’t give a damn, because the value is so much better.
BEING SOLD ON YOURSELF
Places like the movie theatre and the gas station I mentioned above have committed to a certain level of service. They are committed to their WHY, and they have decided to deliver on that each and every day. They are SOLD ON THEIR OWN MODELS and do everything necessary to maintain good service. Are you sold on the service and products you provide to your clients/customers?
If you were a consumer, would you do business with yourself? Would your team choose your office as the place they would go to for all their needs? How can your team adequately describe what it’s like to do business at your office if they never used the products or services in your office?
It’s time to find out who on your team is sold on what you do. Are they sold on the processes, services, and products you deliver? If not, you better find out why. Ask yourself if you would buy a product from a sales person who has never used the product they are selling.
IN CLOSING
Everything is sales. You are either selling—your services, your products, your ideas, your goods—or being sold to by someone who is trying to sell you their goods, ideas, products, or services. Shit, my son tries to sell me on desert every night after dinner — sales is everywhere!
Sales and service will either be your biggest asset or your biggest liability.
Always remember, you’re not selling skin care; you’re selling glowing skin that attracts compliments. You’re not selling coaching services; you’re selling a better way to achieve goals faster. You’re not selling clean teeth at your dentist office; you’re selling a bright, cheerful smile.
Always, always, always, sell to a feeling that matches a desire; not a budget. Always deliver +1. Going the extra mile will always create raving fans for your business, which in turn creates the most valuable resource of returning clients and referrals.
After all, the person that already knows, likes, and trusts you will always be the best source of further sales for you.
Stay Edgy-
Daniel Tribby
Co-Founder, The Edgy Entrepreneur
© Edgy Entrepreneur, LLC. • 51 E. Jefferson St. #3292, Orlando, FL 32802 • www.edgyentrepreneurs.com
