The Customer Isn’t Always Right

“The customer is always right,” is a cliche as familiar to the salesperson as “don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

Although it has an element of truth, a successful sales must satisfy more than just the customer. All parties, the customer, the supplying company, and the salesperson must have their needs met before the sales can be termed a success. The different needs to be reconciled prior to a successful sales transaction include the customer’s need for a good buy, the salesman’s need for success, and the company’s need for continued growth.

Let’s examine the tug of war waged around the salesperson. Restrictions put on salespeople by their own companies often leave them caught at the same time between the two power factions of Parent Company and Customer. Customers enjoy power in the buying process and some may try to squeeze the salesperson to get the most for their company or for the thrill involved in psychological gamesmanship.

This leaves the salesperson with a residue of mixed feelings such as: “Shall I put up with it . . . tell the customer to stick it in his ear or tell my own company to take a hike?” The answer to all these questions is a firm “NO” from Effectiveness Training Inc. of Solana Beach, CA. Ninety percent of their new course titled Sales-Tech deals with the professional selling skills that can prevent the advent of this battleground atmosphere. In addition, one major module deals exclusively with how to maintain productive relationships with customers, no matter what games they might play. Let’s examine some of the helpful hints covered in this module.

When a selling situation begins to appear unacceptable, look at the following four areas: What are the customer behaviors that bother you a great deal? What prevents you from correcting the problem? How do you deal with a customer’s irritating behavior? Do you feel compelled to “get even?”

What bothers one salesperson may not bother another, and, what bothers you in one particular customer may not bother you in another. It is important to recognize when you are upset by a particular customer’s behavior and thus lose interest in selling to that customer. Some examples of objectionable behavior by customers which salespeople mention in classes are: taking phone calls during an interview, keeping salespeople waiting on confirmed appointments, and changing the game plan – after agreement has previously been reached on say, having key decision makers there, who then don’t show. Tough questions, comparisons with the competition, objections and even concerns unrelated to the sale are also normal parts of a selling situation which should be addressed. This benefits all parties, especially the salesperson.

There are a variety of reasons why salespeople don’t correct the problems. At best, there’s risk involved. How will the customer react if you say something displeases YOU, the salesperson? Emotions might escalate leaving a residue of feelings for the future. The relationship may suffer long term damage. There’s a feeling on the part of most salespeople that if they’re “nice” (unselfish, charitable and generous) the customer will behave the same way.

But – UNLESS YOU SAY THAT SOMETHING IS BOTHERING YOU, THE CUSTOMER WILL NEVER KNOW.

When irritating behavior from a customer does occur, what do most salespeople do? Why, of course, they avoid those customers! This narrows the potential field for selling. Salespeople will find ways to avoid calling on aggravating customers. There are millions of ways. Supervisors will sometimes even support them in this self-defeating cycle. Another well trod path that many salespeople take is that of “getting even.”

It may take years and just the right set of circumstances, but salespeople will find a way to balance the books with customers who irritate them. On the other hand, the customer is there with his own score to settle later on and the balancing act can go on this way forever. Remember this: every sales call YOU don’t make is a definite sale NOT made. And if you’re busy settling scores, when do you make the sale?

Before getting hooked into any of the negative states listed above, take a look at the SalesTech model and consider the advantages of low-risk problem solving.

1. You’ll like yourself better. (Sounds good already, doesn’t it?)

2. You’ll be the kind of person others can deal with effectively.

3. You’ll handle situations efficiently as they occur.

4. You’ll solve problems before they become too big to handle.

5. You’ll shoot straight and others will mirror your actions. The course teaches a simple model to help remember what to do.

SERIOUSNESS OF PROBLEM

Let’s take a look now at some low-risk problem solving techniques. Within the context of a very strong relationship, or when an event is isolated, it’s okay to just “forget it.” But with recurring problems, you must first look at the part you are playing. If a customer whom you visit in the morning is always busy and if this happens with a few customers, you may have to change your traditional appointment times. Changing your behavior is certainly low-risk and relatively easy.

Another low-risk approach to aggravating situations is one taught so successfully by Dr. Thomas Gordon in the course titled, LEADER EFFECTIVENESS TRAINING. By using what are called “I” Messages, the focus is on the person talking about the problem. This removes the element of blame from the conversation and leaves the field free to solve the problem. A few examples follow:

1. I would appreciate it if . . .

2. I’d like to . . .

3. It would be helpful to me . . .

4. I would certainly appreciate . . .

When using I-statements, you elicit help from the customer rather than making him take a defensive posture. No one need feel angry or bad and most people are more than happy to help someone else if they have nothing to lose in the process. Use I-message statements when a change is required from business as usual, if a plan you’ve laid out has good reasons, which you wish to express, or you choose not to accept certain requests. The following example illustrate the use of I-messages:

PREVENTING: “Mr. Client, the past three times we have visited, it was necessary for you to take two or three phone calls during our visits. The information I have today is complex and difficult for me to present if I lose my train of thought. It would be helpful for me if we could have one uninterrupted hour together.”

DECLARING: “Ms. Client, I know you’re on a tight time schedule, but I believe a demonstration of this equipment is the only way to really see its benefits.”

RESPONDING: “Thank you for the invitation to lunch. I appreciate it but I won’t be able to go today because I have another appointment in one hour across town.”

Notice that as the risk accelerates in the above examples, the salesperson never blames the customer. The burden of problem solving is likewise not laid at the customer’s feet. No solution is given. The problem has simply been verbally laid on the table, allowing the customer an opportunity to help solve it.

All of the above techniques work well and should be tried before confronting a customer with a repeating problem that he or she has not corrected. Let’s suppose, however, that you’ve tried everything else and whatever the problem, it still is uncorrected.

In this, the highest risk situation, SalesTech suggests the Confrontive I-message. To be effective, it has three parts:

1. The exact behavior of the customer which is causing the problem – avoid using general descriptions or descriptive words (i.e., “You have taken four phone calls” not “You’ve taken a lot of calls” or “You’re sure busy on the phone today.”)

2. The most accurate word you can think of that describes your feelings – confused, disappointed, trapped, incapable, exploited, at a loss, etc.

3. The exact (concrete, tangible) effect all this is having on you. A good starter formula for expressing I-messages is:

When you . . .

I feel . . .

Because . . .

For example:

“Mr. Customer, when you took the third and fourth phone call just now, I felt confused and disappointed because I had planned a rather detailed presentation today based on the assumption that we could concentrate; now I realize that I forgot two key points and have nearly run out of time.”

Notice again . . no solution. The mission is to get the customer to help you fix a problem. There are, of course, some other objectives which include:

– not damaging the self-esteem of the customer

– maintaining the relationship with the customer

– getting the problem solved

What’s the bottom line? Selling today requires that salespeople maintain strong relationships with their customers. Being assertive is part of maintaining strong relationships. Unfortunately, many sales courses have confused Assertiveness with Aggressiveness. SalesTech’s approach is not only believable but workable.

There is no reason for a salesperson to feel dumped on by his or her customers. It is refreshing to see a course that helps salespeople manage their negative feelings without jeopardizing the sale. A salesperson who is successfully managing his or her feelings has more time and energy for the important business of selling.