While sitting in a Starbucks, I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation going on next to me between a salesperson and customer.
If you too have spent any amount of time in a Starbucks, you have overheard wide ranging discussions.
What struck me about this one is the passion the salesperson had. She truly believed in what it was she was selling, but the problem was her passion overtook any sense of intelligence with how to sell.
The only thing she did for 25 minutes was talk.
Seriously! I can’t recall more than twice when the customer did any talking, and both of those times were on totally unrelated subjects — the weekend and the weather.
One word sums up what I heard in this salesperson’s approach: Pathetic!
I can’t tell you the number of times I wanted to just jump in and tell the salesperson to shut up and let the customer talk. The presentation wasn’t much more than a capabilities presentation about how wonderful her company is and how the products they make are so good.
Who cares?!
It’s not revolutionary at all to talk about how great your company is.
How many questions do you ask in your presentations? How much time is the customer talking?
I hate to say it, but running into the type of salesperson I overheard in Starbucks that day is not a rare occurrence for me. I run into them all the time! It’s easy to read this and say how there is no way you’re like the person I’m describing. We have to be careful, though, because many of us can easily drop into the bad habit of talking too much.
Rules for your next presentation:
Develop a list of questions you want to ask
Follow-up on each comment made by the customer
Uncover at least 3 needs the customer has
Secure a next step
Now, here’s the kicker to what I saw in Starbucks: When the salesperson finished, she asked the customer to complete a quick survey as to the job she did on the presentation. She said her boss asked her to get feedback from customers. Well, that sums it up.
A stupid salesperson working for a stupid sales manager. I guess it all fits.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
