Not all customers are good customers.
In fact, there are some customers who are just plain stupid.
Sometimes we as salespeople don’t recognize how stupid they are until it’s too late. As a public service, I’ve come up with 5 things you can do to avoid dealing with stupid customers.
1. Don’t sell on price.
When you sell on price, the biggest group of people you’re going to attract is stupid people.
Reason is simple: People who focus on price will never understand the value proposition and, therefore, they’ll never appreciate how they can benefit.
2. Don’t prospect with those who want to make every decision by way of a committee.
When it takes a committee to make a decision, there is something wrong and it most likely is nobody has enough backbone to make a decision.
3. Steer clear of customers who are concerned about specific little issues that don’t play a key role in the overall sale.
Stupid customers can get off track and wind up wasting a lot of time dealing with trivial items. Problem is if you spend your time dealing with the trivial issues, the merits of the value proposition will break down.
4. Steer clear of customers who still can’t state what they want, even after a significant level of discussion.
If the customer can’t ultimately state the benefits they desire, there is little chance they will be comfortable with their purchase.
5. Don’t spend time with customers who spend more time discussing the competition than what you’re selling.
To me this is a red flag that says if the customer does buy from you, they’ll waste your time forever complaining about how your offer does not do something the competitor’s does.
There’s just no way around it: The truth is that not all customers are worth having.
Stupid customers are good for one thing. Think of them as a gift you can give to your competition. Let your competitor deal with them. The more time they spend with them, the less time they’ll have to spend with good customers.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
4 Responses
Mark,
Wow, yes, and amen!! This is totally spot-on.
Please consider your sales good samaritan task complete for this week – I needed to hear this advice BIG-time and I’m sure many more of your readers did, too.
— David
Very true, especially about the committees. I’m a web designer, and I run away from committee-run projects. It’s people like this who’ve given us the reason there’s a website called Clients From Hell: http://clientsfromhell.net
Yep, I can relate with point number 4. “Stay clear of customers who still can’t state what they want…” I got a customer through a referral who keeps asking when am I going to finish his ‘things’ but won’t say what it is that he wants me to do. Not only is he plain stupid, he just wants me to do ‘something’ just because he made a down-payment which I regret ever accepting. To make matters worse, he won’t even sign the letter of engagement I sent him ages ago. I’m giving him the sack, so to speak:-)
You are spot on. Sadly many sales people will spend a lifetime trying to figure this out.