SOLD! ... Do People Really Want to Be?

I have always said that people do not want to be sold, but that they love to buy. We all hate pushy sales people, that's a given. But there is one thing I have found that people hate more than pushy sales people and that is the idea that they themselves will become a pushy sales person. We are loathed to think of ourselves that way so unfortunately the pendulum swings the other way. In the interest of not coming across like that cheesy used car sales person there is a risk that we become meek, mild mannered order takers. Not wanting to offend the client by sounding like a sales person, we stop selling and just react to whatever the client does.

People want to be sold

Now, lest there be any confusion, I really believe people do not want to be sold. When I say that I mean that they don't want to be talked into something.

However, I do believe that they want and need guidance. While some clients are very sophisticated buyers of investments, insurance and lending products most are not.

Many of your clients are typical of the average North American: we lead busy lives. We have bills to pay, deadlines to meet at work, families to care for and more than our share of unexpected "life events" that stress us out. We are not experts in your products and we need help when it comes to sorting out this competitive, ever-changing world of financial services.

The question is: will your clients be able to think of all the questions they need to ask so that they feel confident buying from you? Will you let them pepper you with questions and simply answer them to the best of your ability and then hope that they buy? Or do you have the confidence to lead the process – to be the expert your client is looking for and ask them the right questions that lead them to the right decision? Your approach will determine much of your success with the clients that are undecided on what to do.

I just came back from a store that sells gas fireplaces and the experience reinforced this concept to me. Let me contrast two experiences. Same store, same fireplace, two sales people. The first order-taker ... I mean "salesperson" answered my questions politely. He was knowledgeable and I had no reason not to like him. I left feeling like I needed to shop around more because I didn't feel I had enough information to make a good decision. I went to another store and did the same thing and got the same service: polite order-taking.

Now I don't know about you, but I don't go out buying gas fireplaces that often and I certainly don't consider myself to be an expert. After an hour of talking to sales people in two stores I was closer to making a decision but not there yet. I kept wondering if there was something I hadn't thought about yet – something unforeseen that, if I missed, I would end up paying for later. You see, the problem is, I don't know what I don't know so how can I possibly ask all of the right questions? The only way to confidently make a decision is to know everything there is to know about gas fireplaces! Well who has time for that!?

I wanted to talk someone that knew what they were doing and that could help me feel confident enough to make a final decision. I wanted to be sold!  I went back to the first store and got a different sales person. He asked good questions that got me to think about what I wanted and why. He was able to uncover some things I hadn't thought of (and that the other guy didn't ask about) which gave me confidence in him, his store, and his product. He was knowledgeable just like the other guy except for one huge difference – he applied his product knowledge to MY circumstances! He lead the process and that inspires confidence. And when he finally put a package together for me it was a customized presentation based on his expert guidance and my input. How can I disagree with his analysis when I had so much input into it? What that process did was to build my confidence throughout the exchange to the point where it reaches the logical conclusion which is to buy. So rather than second guessing myself as to whether or not I have remembered everything to ask I can feel secure that the expert has asked me enough questions to understand my situation well enough so that I can feel confident making a yes decision.

There is a huge application here to selling financial services and insurance. People want to be sold - not talked into something - but sold in a professional sense. They are not experts in your products nor do they typically have the time or inclination to become one. They want you to ask them the questions they haven't thought about. They want a confident person to make an expert recommendation based on their answers to your questions. And believe it or not, when you are finished presenting your solutions, they need you to have enough confidence in what you suggested that you would logically ask them to buy it. When you don't ask you take away from everything you have said to them – you actually introduce doubt into the equation which can compel the client to go away and "think about it".

You have a great deal to offer your clients so take the lead and be assertive with your questions. In asserting yourself and asking the right questions you will increase your value to the client and differentiate yourself from the competition. When that happens they will lend more credibility to your suggestions and that will increase your odds of getting a yes.

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