Challenge Your Customer And Lose The Sale

by Leonard Zell

"Win the Battle and Loose the War" is another way my students put it. There is something in a salesperson's psyche that makes them want to challenge customers. Many times salespeople have no idea their remarks are challenging. Here is an example:

CUSTOMER: "Is this all you have?"

SALESPERSON: "I've shown you every diamond ring I have which is a larger selection than you'll see anywhere else in the mall."

The salesperson is challenging the customer to find a larger selection and also putting the customer down for making that remark. Now you may think that is obvious, however you must understand the circumstances. The salesperson became exasperated because of the time involved, lost patience and that sharp remark came easy. Instead of knowing how to start closing the sale the salesperson went into "show and tell". He kept making presentations hoping the customer would eventually find a ring and close the sale himself. The salesperson lost control of the sales near the beginning, that is how he got into show and tell in the first place.

I remember when my father, Harry Zell who was a master salesman and teacher, caught me at show and tell. He told me, "Leonard, I can hire someone at minimum wage to do what you are doing. You are better than that." Then he told me what to do in case I did get myself into that kind of situation again. I learned that after you show three or four pieces of jewelry, one right after the other, you are into show and tell. You should stop there before your customer can say, "Is this all you have?"

Just remember these two key words, "special" and "mind" by saying, "You must be thinking of something special." or "It looks like you must have something in mind." You can also use both of these words in the same sentence, "It seems you have something special in mind." It is not necessary to memorize these sentences, if you do your customer will think you are programmed All you should do is remember the key words and the statement you use will sound natural. Since these are positive sentences your customer will tell you what they would like to see.

You will not get the reply you want if you change these statements into questions by saying, "Is there something you have in mind?" Be careful, because you are now interrogating your customer which is what you don't like salespeople to do to you. At best you will get a short answer which will force you to ask more questions. From there it is all downhill.

Whenever you answer a challenging remark with a question you are challenging your customer right back, something you want to avoid. A positive statement is not challenging in the least. It will keep your customer at ease as well as you and they will be most happy to tell you what they are looking for.

Another important point to remember is to avoid coming up with the perfect answer right away. The better the answer the more of a put down it is to your customer. It will make them look foolish. Yes, the salesperson won, but lost the customer. Here is an example.

CUSTOMER: "I can find this ring for a lot less money."

SALESPERSON: "Yes, but not for the quality I am showing you."

Then the salesperson goes into the quality of the ring and finds their customer is not even listening to them. Why should they, would that salesperson be listening if they were put down like that? Before you come up with your perfect answer always try and find some way to first agree with your customer. This would have been a much better answer.

SALESPERSON: "Yes, Mr. Jones you will see rings that are similar, in fact they may look like the same ring. However when you see this ring compared to those others, the differences will be very noticeable. Let me point them out to you and you will see why this diamond ring is more valuable."

By agreeing with the customer it put the customer at ease because their remark was completely acknowledged, not with just a, "Yes, but..." Now the customer is willing to listen and they are no longer challenging the salesperson.

There are other techniques I used in this dialogue. For instance, using the customers name is very important. This conversation done in an implied, "Hey you", basis will not be near as effective as using the customer's name. Everyone pays more attention when their name is used at the beginning of a statement. I also did not repeat back to the customer that the other rings are less expensive or that mine is more. Why repeat a negative? I find many salespeople doing this and that is like shooting themselves in the foot. Another subtle technique I used is to use the word , "diamond" with only my ring. The others were just, "rings."

Notice that there were no questions in answering the customer. They were all positive statements. Some salespeople still cannot resist a question and end a statement with, "isn't it?" I do not recommend this, customers are smart. Be careful no to prejudge their intelligence. After a few of those ending questions, not only is it aggravating, it is obvious to the customer that the salesperson was programmed by someone.

Last but not least a salesperson must remember to smile when challenged. It is difficult to smile when challenging someone, but easier when you agree with them. The smile is your most powerful selling tool, however few salespeople know how to use it. Your immediate smile after being challenged is your best defense. It puts your customer at ease and they will even smile back, especially if you can remember to use their name.

There are many other challenging remarks and even cheap shots that customers make. Just remember to first smile, then use the customer's name, agree with them and use positive staments instead of probing questions. If you are unable find a way to agree, then the next best thing is to use the key word, "understand" as in, "Mr. Smith, I can understand why you would say that..."

There are several techniques involved here and they will take practice. I do not recommend practicing on customers, that can be expensive. Instead, roll play the challenging situations you encounter the most with a sales associate. That way you both will learn and without risk. Roll playing is also the easiest way to remember a technique because the retention rate is as high as 80%.

To keep yourself on the right track, use these two principles I always tell my students, "Only use techniques that makes complete sense." and "Sell the same way you would like to be sold."

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Leonard Zell is an honorary member of the Diamond Council of America and a contributing editor. This article was written for their newsletter the Diamontologist and is reprinted with their permission.

Author's Note: I welcome your comments about this or any of the other artcles presented here. LZ