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It’s Your Choice – Do You Use Hard Sell or Soft Sell Techniques
When you really believe in soft sell sales and marketing, it’s hard to admit that the soft sell approach is not for every customer. While most people I know love it when they find a salesperson they can come to know, like and trust, strange as it may seem, some customers actually want hard sell salespeople.
Here are some examples of hard sell prospects I’ve met and heard about where you waste your time if you try the soft sell sales approach:
• Prospects who love the power game themselves enjoy battling with hard sell sales reps
• Prospects who want someone to blame if it proves to be a bad decision
• People who can’t trust for one reason or another: they’ve been burned so badly or so often they don’t trust themselves to be able to judge correctly; and people who naturally want distance between themselves and others.
• People who themselves are not trustworthy don’t believe others are so they can’t trust.
The choice is yours how you want to handle prospects who prefer hard sell salespeople. But remember, you will never sell everyone. This is part of being selective. I’ve written a lot about identifying your ideal customer profile because people like your best customers are most likely to want and need what you provide. That makes them the easiest to develop a relationship with and the ones who will probably buy from you when they are ready. (See my mailing list opt-in bonus of ebook and nine lessons for more on this topic.)
If the types of customers I described above fit your ideal customer profile, then you know how to work with them successfully. For most of us who excel at soft sell sales, though, we will waste time and ultimately lose out to a hard sell salesperson with these prospects. So what is the price of trying to accommodate a prospect by becoming hard sell? The following are some of the costs:
• Damage to your self-image, guilt, dislike for yourself
• Waste of your time because you lack the ability to smoothly use hard sell techniques
• Harm to your reputation – people looking for a relationship will shy away from someone known to use manipulation, pressure, and control tactics
• Tendency to revert to hard sell when frustrated with the pace of soft sell sales
• Risk of misidentifying a customer as preferring hard sell when she was really testing you
The choice to use hard sell techniques because you have a customer who prefers hard sell is a business decision you must make. The problem is that soft sell techniques take time because relationships take time. The amount of time ranges from minutes to months depending on the type sale and how critical the need is. However, the results tend to be long term whereas most hard sell sales are short term. And there are the repercussions to a soft sell salesperson for using hard sell. I prefer to stick to what works for me because I’m comfortable with soft sell sales. My customers and I have fun; I find it fulfilling to help; and I feel good about it being a mutually rewarding relationship.
I invite you to sign up for my mailing list in the top right hand column. As a bonus, I will send you my ebook, 9 Steps to Finding Prospects Who Want What You Provide, plus nine follow on lessons.
How to Ask a Closing Question
Gratitude Sets the Right Attitude
Heart Centered Selling’s not for Wimps
Have You Heard the MLM Lies?
Sales Motivation – Remember, There’s more to Life than Money
Trusting a Salesperson Is Tough; Liking Is Easy
If No One Cares, It’s Not a Unique Selling Proposition
If Sales Calls to You Are Win-Lose Battles, Read No Further
