Strong Desire to Service

Do you have a strong enough desire to help your clients?

There are a number of virtues that are helpful to the person that wants to sell for a living. One of them is a sincere desire to help another human being. I say sincere desire because sometimes that desire has to be so strong that it overrides our own personal insecurities or fears about a situation.

I was shopping for a camera recently and I needed someone that was really willing to help. Don’t get me wrong, the people that tried to serve me did an admirable job but I was having a tough time making a decision. I had narrowed it down to two cameras but the more research I did and the more questions I asked the more confused I got. I needed someone with a strong enough desire to help me that they would have the courage to stop answering my questions until they knew whether or not the camera we were discussing was the right one. But because I kept asking questions they felt like the best way to “sell” me was to give me the information I was asking for. No one actually stopped me and asked, “Are you sure this is the best camera for you? Why don’t we go back to the beginning and find out what you hope to do with the camera  - what type of photography you anticipate doing - and then I can help make sure you get the right camera for your situation”.

Having someone walk me through that buying process by leading and asking good questions would have made my decision a lot easier. It sounds easy enough but what that really means is that the salesperson would have had to have a strong enough desire to help that he wouldn’t have just answered my questions. He would have taken over the process and started asking me questions in order to help me accomplish my goal of making a smart decision.

So don’t be shy. If someone is asking questions about your product or service have a sincere enough desire to help to ask some of your own questions. Is what they are asking about the best product for them? Just because they asked you about it doesn’t mean they’re right. Who should be the product knowledge expert on your products? The client may be sophisticated but they should not know your products better than you. You can help them to make a decision (for or against your product) by having the courage to ask questions that clarify in your mind and theirs whether or not it is the best product for them. Once you establish that as your foundation then you can go to work explaining what you can offer in light of what you learned in your investigation.

So how bad do you want to help your clients? Have the courage to lead the process and you’ll find your job, and theirs, is a lot easier.

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