Two more types…Politics, taxes

Two more types…One more solution

Timid Tim and Careful Cathy have something in common with our last two tough customers: They too are best handled in a similar fashion. But unlike Gruff Gus and Know it all Art, we need to adapt our personalities to theirs to connect with them.

With the careful customer, we must realize that the only way to convince them is to become equally cautious in our demeanor. If we do what comes naturally – to sell even harder, we’ll just make them even more resistant. Better to be like the chameleon and blend in – which means we dial it back. That also means a change in language to include wording like, “Let’s step back a minute and make sure this idea really is best for your operation”. That might just reassure her that you’re equally careful and lower Cathy’s natural concerns.

Then comes the uber cautious buyer. In his case we want to avoid triggering his worry over making a mistake, because that is often the exact issue driving his excess of caution. That means taking it slow and making sure that he understands that we’re also approaching the matter with an excess of caution. In this case alter your approach to be slow, methodical and thorough. You’ll also benefit by slowing your pace and allowing some pauses in the conversation, versus moving forward without stopping to gain agreement.

By taking time to slow down, reassure and adopt a bit of the personality of these two challenging buyers, you might just find more success and a lot less frustration than you’ve come to expect when dealing with them!

Next up: The last tough one … Silent Steve.

Politics, taxes…And stuff that matters

If you’re beginning to feel fatigue over never ending TV and talk radio tax relief coverage, don’t feel alone. And if you’re similarly tiring of the call to “investigate the investigators” ditto,’ Truth is we’re all getting a bit sick of it. But here’s the good news: despite the relentlessness rumble, it will soon be over, so we can start to get out ears bent over the next piece of political crisis!

But unlike the political side of life, our need to stay laser focused on our goals remains both unchanged and unchanging. The calls must be made, the deliveries completed, the invoices collected, the service calls made, the training conducted and the sales completed.

What we cannot do about the political buzz is one thing. But the things we can do about the business today and every day as we wrap up 2017 is an entirely different matter. So, maybe we all just need to tune the car radio to some Christmas music and focus our attention on the things we need to do. Maybe the rest will just take care of itself.