Category Archives for "Soft Sell"

Don't Let Your Passion Blind You to What Your Customer Wants

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

I’m a big believer in walking the talk. Yesterday, however, I asked my client how I did. What he told me was eye opening, and my ego would have preferred to not have gotten the answer. Despite the soft sell sales training I do in which I stress using questions to understand before selling, I almost allowed my passion blind me to what my client wanted.

Actually, we’d had a great session. We were talking about soft sell sales and marketing activities he can take to grow their business in these tough times in one of the hardest hit industries in America: apparel. I was teaching him about the soft sell sales approach to selling: get to know the customer’s concerns and interests, her issues.

We did some brainstorming that he, his wife/partner, and I all enjoyed. We discussed identifying the real benefits. We talked about the challenges their retailers are facing and how difficult it is to get to the buyers these days.

That’s when my own passion overrode my listening skills. Continue reading