In the last lesson, I gave an example of how the store where you purchased your last $1,000 item gave you confidence that it was the right place to buy the product. This was because of the way that it looked on the outside, and the layout of the interior.
You do not have a retail store for the customer to come to; however, you do have a truck which is going to be parked in front of their house for their neighbors to see. What statement is the vehicle going to make? Does it look clean and professional, with a good advertisement for your company so that the neighbors will be impressed enough to also call you for an alarm system? Does it make your customer feel like they have made the right choice because of the professional appearance? Or, does it look as if you have been using it in the demolition derby on the weekends, and your potential customer is embarrassed to have it in front of their house?
Is this really important? You bet it is! Always remember, you can never take back your first impression. You do not have to have a new vehicle that looks as if you just drove it out of the showroom, but the customer will look at it with a certain judgment. Before I expand on that, let's put in the next piece of the puzzle, which is you. (The word "you" in these lessons will refer to everyone that the potential customer will see who is representing your company.)
When your potential customer meets you for the first time, what do they see? Do you present a professional image, or do you look as if you just crawled out of an attic and forgot to clean up? This is just as important as the impression your vehicle will make, and is vital to the first thing that your customer MUST have, if the presentation is going to continue with any success: a feeling of confidence. This is the same feeling that you had when you entered the store to buy your $1,000 item. You don't know exactly what you expected to see; however, everything that you did see made you comfortable and gave you a feeling of confidence. The opposite of this is seeing something that looks out-of-place, and immediately you get these "danger signals" which make you feel as if you should immediately start looking for a way out. If your customer gets this feeling, forget the sale. Anything beyond this point is futile.
Why Does A Person Buy Something?
When you are trying to persuade a person to buy something (especially when it involves a great deal of money), is it important to understand the reason that person would buy anything? This might sound like an easy question, but remember we are exploring the very basics of salesmanship, and this is the part that most people understand the least.
Let's go back to you, and the last $1,000 item that you purchased. I want to ask you a question about it: Right after you bought it, what did you think about it? That might be hard to answer, so let me ask the question another way: Right after you bought it, how did you feel? That should be a very easy question to answer. You probably felt happy, joyful, proud, excited and very eager to use the product. Why does the second question make more sense? Because buying is an emotional experience.
A basic rule of salesmanship is that people buy with their emotions, and justify their purchase with logic. Do you remember the feeling that you had when you decided to purchase your $1,000 product? It was probably a feeling of confidence in your decision. This is the same feeling that your potential customer must have before they will agree to purchase your security system. That feeling of confidence, which leads us to another basic fundamental which has to be understood.
How Do People Get Their Feelings?
If you are going to instill a positive feeling in your potential customers, a very basic understanding of what causes feelings is necessary. First, all feelings are initiated in your brain (computer), which receives its input (data) from your senses. These are sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. These senses are at work at all times, and are sending the data which informs you of everything that is going on around you. It is an automatic process, and there is nothing that you can do to stop it.
The initial sense that occurs in any new situation is the detection of danger. If potential physical danger is detected, a number of physiological changes occur. First, your skin actual begins to tighten, which gives you a feeling that your hair is standing on end. This also strengthens the skin so that it is more resistant to cuts or abrasions. At the same time adrenaline is secreted into your system, which increases your heart rate, gives you energy, heightens your senses and acts as a coagulating agent for your blood if you are wounded. This automatic function has prepared your body for "fight and/or flight", depending on how you analyze the physical danger.
We are not putting our potential client in any physical danger when we give a sales presentation; however, this is a new situation, and all of their senses are going to be operating as normal. Since we do not involve taste, smell or touch in our presentations, everything is going to be determined on what they see and hear. The conscience mind will be listening and watching, and the subconscious mind will be analyzing the information. Most of the time the results will manifest themselves as feelings.
As a practical example of how this works, let's go back to your purchase of that $1,000 item. How did you feel:
When you drove into the parking lot and looked at the outside of the store?
When you walked into the store and looked around for the first time?
When you met the salesperson?
When you were watching the demonstration of products?
When you made your final selection, and decided to buy?
The normal feeling in a professional sales presentation is that of being in a comfortable situation. You feel at ease so that you can relax your defenses and enjoy the experience. The environment gives you confidence, and the presentation is non-threatening.
If the situation was different, you would not feel at ease because the environment is not what it should be, and you have an ignorant salesperson who is trying to high pressure you into buying what they want to sell you.
In that case your senses would give you an uncomfortable feeling, and would prepare you for fight or flight. The fight would be you telling the salesperson that you are not interested in their product, and the flight would be you getting away from this person and out of the door as soon as possible.
It is only when you get far away from this situation that you begin to get back your peaceful feelings. This has happened to all of us more times than we would like, and it will happen to our prospective customers during our presentations if we are not aware of their automatic responses and are able to maintain a comfortable feeling throughout the presentation.
Important points:
Always remember, you can never take back your first impression.
A basic rule of salesmanship is that people buy with their emotions, and justify their purchase with logic.
Your potential customer is going to have to feel that they are safe (no sense of danger) throughout the sales presentation. This sense of well being will be caused by everything that they see and hear.