We ended Part One by asking, “What do you think my main challenges were with the way ‘David’ handled the upsell?”
In both the Blog Comment section and on my Facebook pages, there were many excellent points and responses, with many of you nailing the jist of what quickly turned me off and caused me to lose trust, which discontinued the selling process.
What David communicated as simply a really cool courtesy upgrade based on my being a “loyal customer” (“Not a penny.” It’s just our way of saying thank you”) turned out to be a two-year written commitment/contract to something about which I was now not even going to bother finding out. By misrepresenting himself and the transaction (he didn’t really lie but he definitely didn’t tell the truth) he broke the great rapport he had built to that point through his otherwise excellent handling of the process.
Now, would I have necessarily said yes to the two-year commitment had he represented it as such upfront? I don’t know. As mentioned in Part One, based on past experience, I don’t have a lot of trust in AT&T. Then again, that’s why David is a salesperson; not an “order-taker”…it was his job to continue building the rapport and trust until I was open to understanding the possible benefits of the situation.
But, as you know, once I realized he had not been completely truthful with me, there was no chance of it ever getting that far. Of course, I was polite as I said no thank you. He, on the other hand, was obviously not a happy camper.
As John David Mann and I write in Go-Givers Sell More, “At its essence, sales is not a business transaction. It is first and foremost the forging of a human relationship.”
And, good relationships, whether personal or business, are not based on trying to fool another person to do what you want them to do. Sometimes, it really is as simple as understanding that.
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Defining sales as “first and foremost the forging of a human relationship” is perhaps the single most important concept that has made it possible for many people, myself included, to relate to selling as a possible and even desirable professional venue.
So long as selling is conceived as the art of manipulating people into purchasing and doing something they don`t need or want, or trying to trick them into it, salespeople will suffer from a justly earned stigma.
Your books, seminars and blog posts, Bob, are creating a much needed shift in the way selling is conceived, and hopefully will lead to the development of greater integrity in this profession on a global scale.
WOW – thank you, Osnat. Your words are sweet and kind, as always, my friend.
Bob,
The words in the Go Giver books were in mind while I wrote a reply to the part one of this discussion. And it’s no surprise that this is where you went.
The quality of the relationship is everything to me – yes, I’ve taken commission, as I’ve had a money need, but I’ve been very dissatisfied with myself and my company over any sale where I’ve thought, and often unfortunately even known, that the customer got the short end.
Selling can indeed be an honorable profession. And it’s only us who are the practitioners who can make it so. I can so identify with the words that Osnat writes.
Thank you for your inspiration, Bob.
Anthony
Anthony, thank you. I appreciate your comments. I do get the feeling from your second paragraph that you see commission sales as being a bad thing in and of itself. I love commission sales – people should be financially rewarded to the degree that they serve others (in this case, via helping fulfill the person’s want/need in terms of their product or service). In fact, if you are in business, you are in commission sales. The problem comes when there is a character flaw in the salesperson (or, simply ignorance in that what they are selling isn’t as good as they have been led to believe when they joined the company) in which what they are doing does not in fact serve the person to whom they are selling. You mentioned about selling on commission because you had a money need. We “all” have a money need to some degree or another, as money is the currency of exchange through which we both add and receive desired value. The key is making sure you put the needs of the customer before your money needs. That way you’ll focus more on the customer, and the money will follow. Remember, “money is an echo of value. It’s the thunder to value’s lightening.” (From Go-Givers Sell More)
I agree totally with your third paragraph; selling is indeed an honorable profession. And, it’s the practitioners who make it so or not so.
By the way, thank you again for your very, very kind review of the book in your recent blog post. Very appreciated!!
Thank you for your reply Bob..
My comment wasn’t well expressed at all, obviously 🙂 I’ll ‘ave another go …
I love the concept of commission, the choices it gives and the lifestyle it provides..
I’ve worked most of my life that way, either for others selling design services, or self employed.
No, what I don’t like is is the feeling in my gut when I sell something that ought to be good value, in good faith, only to have it delivered faulty; when the promise of the advertising I am required to promote isn’t backed up by the end result, over which I have no control.
But there’s always the door, and a better mousetrap down the road, and I’ve taken that door, also. I guess I like to feel good about what and how I sell, and the value I give, at the end of the day. There’s too many don’t, in my experience. The quantity of oil that’s constantly on offer might lead one to wonder whether snakes will be shortly extinct!
I appreciate your kind comments, Bob. And I will review another book…
Anthony
Hi Anthony, thank you for your reply to my reply. 🙂 I appreciate your taking the time to explain. I love your last sentence about shortly extinct snakes. Very clever!