Cat toy testing department? TECHS READ THIS
So while I was away in Pittsburgh this weekend my wife took the 2 smaller kids to the pet store. Now, to be clear, this wasn't the same customer service nazi from the "dude" story posted on this blog earlier. Apparently, there is a gap in retail sales training for pet stores...
They looked at cat toys for 15 minutes. The clerk, who was aware that my family was in the store, and was also aware that they were looking at cat toys, pointed out that there were also some on the end-cap behind the counter.
They looked some more. And when finally they settled on a couple of noisy fake mice with feather stings attached to a feathered stick, 20 minutes had elapsed. Neato.
This 20 minutes on its own is neither an inconvenience nor an unexpected development. Entertaining an 8-yr old and a 5-yr old for 48 hours when you're down a parent requires many of these sojourns.
So my wife has her selection rung up by the same (and only) clerk mentioned above. Upon scanning her items he remarks, "The feathers come off really quickly. I give 'em 2 minutes. I tested them. I tried all of them and that one didn't last 5 minutes." My wife didn't feel the need to defend the fact that she already knew that too. But it was blue. And it made funny electronic mousy sounds. Honestly she's had cats for 20 years--about as long as this kid has had oxygen--the fate of this cat toy is unknown to her? Interesting presumption.
The point of all this is that the ORDER of subjects in selling matters. More than you realize. And what of the potential that you pre-qualify some of your customers regarding particular subjects, and surprise them in similar ways?
Example: Let's say you're talking with Mr. Jones about his upstairs tub drain which needs replaced. This discussion is taking place in his dining room, directly under what will be the work area, and you make this point to him in this general order, although probably not this specific language: "Ok Mr. Jones, the tub drain does need to be replaced. In order to do that we'll have to remove the old one first. We'll have to go in right here (pointing to the ceiling) and pull out the old one."
Stop. Tell me what Mr. Jones reaction likely is. "Whoa. Wh-- there's gotta be , is there ANY other way? I mean this is my dining room and this can't be.. I mean all torn up right?" Now consider this: At this point Mr. Jones has DEMONSTRATED that he is averse to the idea of cutting into his ceiling. Why? BECAUSE YOU LET HIM. By pitching your services out of order, just like the cat toy boy. If you even bring this subject up again, and I mean in the innocent ways that you're used to like, "Im sorry Mr. Jones there just isn't another way to do it." and forcing your way through it, you not only LOOK pushy and aggressive, you actually ARE pushy and aggressive.
Here is the proper flow of subject matter, once again in an example language: "Ok Mr. Jones, (begin pointing to the CORNERS of the ceiling, hand flattened and planing the wall) when we're finished with this, you won't even believe how clean this will all be. Our drywall guys are so good, they will cut this seam so tight to the corner, there's not a chance you'll even be able to tell we were here at all. OK? So what we'll do is carefully cover and move all of your chairs and tables, and make sure we have good clearance and access well before we begin, and we'll run a super-clean job. I mean, we get that this is your dining room so you'll be happy you called us. Let me show you how we'll proceed."
Beat the customers to the objection, and you own the subject. Let them get there first and you're the counter-puncher we all hate to have to fight with just to get a professional job done.
Happy selling.
They looked at cat toys for 15 minutes. The clerk, who was aware that my family was in the store, and was also aware that they were looking at cat toys, pointed out that there were also some on the end-cap behind the counter.
They looked some more. And when finally they settled on a couple of noisy fake mice with feather stings attached to a feathered stick, 20 minutes had elapsed. Neato.
This 20 minutes on its own is neither an inconvenience nor an unexpected development. Entertaining an 8-yr old and a 5-yr old for 48 hours when you're down a parent requires many of these sojourns.
So my wife has her selection rung up by the same (and only) clerk mentioned above. Upon scanning her items he remarks, "The feathers come off really quickly. I give 'em 2 minutes. I tested them. I tried all of them and that one didn't last 5 minutes." My wife didn't feel the need to defend the fact that she already knew that too. But it was blue. And it made funny electronic mousy sounds. Honestly she's had cats for 20 years--about as long as this kid has had oxygen--the fate of this cat toy is unknown to her? Interesting presumption.
The point of all this is that the ORDER of subjects in selling matters. More than you realize. And what of the potential that you pre-qualify some of your customers regarding particular subjects, and surprise them in similar ways?
Example: Let's say you're talking with Mr. Jones about his upstairs tub drain which needs replaced. This discussion is taking place in his dining room, directly under what will be the work area, and you make this point to him in this general order, although probably not this specific language: "Ok Mr. Jones, the tub drain does need to be replaced. In order to do that we'll have to remove the old one first. We'll have to go in right here (pointing to the ceiling) and pull out the old one."
Stop. Tell me what Mr. Jones reaction likely is. "Whoa. Wh-- there's gotta be , is there ANY other way? I mean this is my dining room and this can't be.. I mean all torn up right?" Now consider this: At this point Mr. Jones has DEMONSTRATED that he is averse to the idea of cutting into his ceiling. Why? BECAUSE YOU LET HIM. By pitching your services out of order, just like the cat toy boy. If you even bring this subject up again, and I mean in the innocent ways that you're used to like, "Im sorry Mr. Jones there just isn't another way to do it." and forcing your way through it, you not only LOOK pushy and aggressive, you actually ARE pushy and aggressive.
Here is the proper flow of subject matter, once again in an example language: "Ok Mr. Jones, (begin pointing to the CORNERS of the ceiling, hand flattened and planing the wall) when we're finished with this, you won't even believe how clean this will all be. Our drywall guys are so good, they will cut this seam so tight to the corner, there's not a chance you'll even be able to tell we were here at all. OK? So what we'll do is carefully cover and move all of your chairs and tables, and make sure we have good clearance and access well before we begin, and we'll run a super-clean job. I mean, we get that this is your dining room so you'll be happy you called us. Let me show you how we'll proceed."
Beat the customers to the objection, and you own the subject. Let them get there first and you're the counter-puncher we all hate to have to fight with just to get a professional job done.
Happy selling.
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