SELLING YOURSELF TO A DIFFICULT CLIENT
Every retail salesman (or saleswoman) has had his/her fair share of difficult customers. These customers are usually angry, impatient, indecisive or overdemanding for no good reason at all. They make selling —especially of high-end products— very difficult to do.
How do you handle those customers who have made up their minds to frustrate you even before you try to sell them on anything at all?
Maybe you don’t have to handle them. Maybe all you need to do to change how well people react to you. Maybe your feedback has nothing to do with them at all. Maybe it has everything to do with you.
How to change your approach to selling to difficult clients
Every good salesman knows that there are psychological triggers that influence how a customer buys or selects. Difficult customers are no different. There are psychological tricks you can use as a salesman to sell yourself and ensure that you make difficult customers see the importance of buying your product or service.
- Build rapport
A good salesman must be a good communicator. You should get familiar and personal with the customer. You shouldn’t be robotic in describing your features, benefits and advantages. Take out preset answers and throw them away when dealing with customers. Instead, deal with the customer individually and answer his/her questions the same way. Building rapport helps the customers Trust you.
- Avoid long discussions and show them the advantages quickly
People do not buy your products. They don’t buy features or price. They are interested in one thing: how your product can help them become or feel better. Avoid lengthy discussions about how your product is the best in the market or the features that it has and channel that energy into explaining how your product will make them better businesspeople, better parents, better students or whatever the case may be.
- Know your customer’s personality type
It helps to understand your customer personality trait before you attempt to sell them anything. Some customers are logical and analytical, and they want to get the best product for their money. Give them some options and feed them the hard facts. Some are more emotional than others and will buy primarily on how the product will make them feel. Use their personality trait to reposition your sales pitch to favor that trait.
Points to note when using the above tips
First, understand that your products might not be right for all customers. That is why sales are about asking questions to see and understand your customer’s challenge and if your product can solve it. Do not try to sell something that is useless to your customer as that might produce a difficult customer.
Another thing you need to understand is that you won’t be able to sell to everyone, even if they need your product. Do your best and follow up but do not stress yourself to death because someone won’t buy your product.
Most, importantly, remember that the solution your product offers is what your customer is interested in. Draft your sales pitch to push the solution to the front as quickly as possible and you will reduce the selling difficulty. Have fun selling!