When Talking to Strangers - 3 reasons potential customers may distrust you
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Interesting
to hear the response from managers when asked about what factors impact
sales.
Many will reference the economy, customer demographics, competition,
and recent
innovations. While
those factors
certainly play a role, I often find, when brought in to train sales and
service
teams, that employees inadvertently chase away new potential customers.
It
usually happens within the first 10 seconds of customer communication,
and most
employees have no idea that they are committing these
offenses. See if this is true in
your
organization. Consider
these three
reasons potential customers may distrust you or your team members.
1. Faking
Familiarity
Imagine that you
are relaxing at home at the end of a long day. Supper’s cleared away;
at last
it’s time to relax with cookie, blankie, remote. The phone rings. You
drag
yourself off the sofa to answer. The voice at the other end replies, “Hello,
is this Mr. or Ms. So-and-so?”
“Yes,” you answer. The caller’s next line, “And
how are you this evening?” Thinking
quickly you turn to your sweetheart, extending the phone, “Honey,
it’s for you!”
The telemarketer
made a common mistake—faking familiarity. It’s true that customers want
to be
treated in a friendly manner, but managers and employees need to
recognize that
before you can foster friendly feelings, you need to create trust. The
telemarketer lost trust in the first five seconds when they asked a
stranger, “How are you?” The
potential customer
realizes that the caller had never met them, so really doesn’t care how
they
are. One of the techniques I share in my training sessions for
salespeople on
cold calling methods is to never ask a stranger, “How
are you?” Instead, salespeople get better results by opening
with, “Hello, is this So-and-So? Hi, I’m
So-and-So with ABC Company. We’ve never met. The reason I’m calling is…”
In other words, you’ll get
better results by
saying, “We’ve never met” (which
proves that you are up front and honest) than by insincerely inquiring
about
the health of a total stranger.
Today’s consumer
is more educated, streetwise, and, frankly, way more cynical about
salespeople’s
motives than ever before. Consumers seem to be taking the advice that
parents
give their children: “Come straight home, and don’t talk to strangers!”
That
means that beyond telling employees to be friendly with customers,
managers
need to quip their staff with tools for establishing trust.
2. Evasive
Answers
Which
person would you trust in this scenario: Picture yourself as a customer
asking
this simple question of two employees: “When
can you deliver this?” Employee
A’s
response: “This is the busy season for us
and the plant is operating at about a two-week turnaround.
That means it will be
delivered by March 15th.”
Employee B’s
response to the same question, “By March 15th.
This is the busy season
for us and the plant
is operating at about a two- week turnaround.
That means delivery by March 15th.”
As
the customer, you’re likely to have more confidence and trust (there’s
that
word again) in Employee B. That
employee
answered the question with a direct answer, then
elaborated. Employee
A sounded as though
they were avoiding the question. That’s
also referred to as sounding like a
politician. When trust is our primary objective, better to
opt for instant
honesty. In other words, answer the question directly, then explain.
It’s a
subtle technique that’s often overlooked.
Speaking of up-front honesty, let’s look at a
third reason strangers
may not be receptive to our ideas.
3. Slight
exaggeration
I have spoken at conventions for three major
real estate
corporations who each claim that they are number one in the industry.
While you
and I know all three companies can’t be first, when we read the fine
print, we
find that each is using different metrics to rank themselves at the
top. My comment for those three
organizations – so
what! What does the
client care if you
happen to have the most sales, most realtors, or most offices in the
country? At best,
those are features -
not benefits – that aren’t particularly meaningful to the average
customer. All
they’ve done by claiming to be number one (when others are doing the
same), is
raise the skepticism of the customer. This use of slight exaggeration,
or
“puffery,” is the third reason customers distrust us.
Customers have become so inured to
organizations claiming to be the
first, best, and biggest, that they often tune-out when they hear it
from
employees, advertisements, the media, or read it on websites.
To influence the
customers’ buying decisions,
we’d better provide more than just grandiose claims.
Fortunately, there are three pieces of
information that do help to sell ideas, products or services.
Your message should convey:
1.What the benefit
is. 2.How you are unique 3.The
evidence. Together the benefit, uniqueness, and
evidence
are known in marketing circles as a Unique Selling
Proposition or USP. Your
USP helps to remove doubts and raise
buying interest.
Bottom Line
There are plenty
of reasons/excuses for sales not meeting expectations. Before blaming
external
factors, managers would do well to look at their customer
communications to see
if there’s room for improvement in building trust.
About the Author
This
article is based on the critically acclaimed book, Becoming
a Service
Icon in
90 Minutes a Month by business strategist,
consultant, and
international speaker Jeff
Mowatt. To obtain your own copy of his book or to inquire about
engaging Jeff
for your team, visit www.jeffmowatt.com
or
call 1-800-JMowatt (566-9288).
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2010-11-04 15:26:56 in Marketing Articles
