2min Read

Who knows someone in your family or friends, maybe your father, your mother, your uncle, your aunt, your grandfather who was in sales? That sales generation has created a reputation for sales behavior that we are now still dealing with. In those days, salespersons had the power of information. The customer was keen to know the products and services salespeople sold to see if buying these products and services would benefit their company.

Salespeople in those days were using that information power to use certain sales tactics to ‘close the deal’. I am sure you have heard these questions before: “Would you rather start next Monday or Tuesday”? Or, when handing a contract (and a pen) over to the customer: “My offer is only available for a limited time…” Many of these tactics were playing on the emotions of the buyer.

These sales tactics may still work in a Low-Value Low-Risk market. Just think about your own emotional buying behavior when walking through the aisles of the supermarket or on an afternoon window shopping. How tempting are those special offers, right?

But in a High-Value and High-Risk market, buyers do not fall for these sales tactics traps anymore. Using similar sales tactics as our fathers and grandfathers did, will do you more harm than good. Why? The balance of information power has now shifted from the seller to the buyer. The customer is exploring all their options on-line before meeting with you. They already know the FABs of your products and services. In fact, they know already who you are, how long you have been with your employer before they even have met you… The new sales currency is not any longer information-exchange of features and advantages No, to win opportunities these days trust is the new currency.

The moment you walk into the customer’s door, your first actions and behaviors will tell the buyer if they can trust you. They figure out real soon if you have their success as your objective or if you are out there to ‘close a deal’.

The reason they have agreed meeting with you is that they always want to improve their current state. Businesses want to out-sell their competitors, they want to grow, they want to make more profit and create more loyal customers. Although the buyer is super informed, they still wonder if there is something they have missed, something they are not aware of and could help them to improve their current state.

This is not the time to use any sales tactics but instead your ideas, your insights about how you can help them be more successful. This is the new information customers are after.

Share with your network if you think this post was useful – thank you