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Subject: This Is Something To Put You Far Ahead Of Discount Chains (Big Box Stores)

Author:
Matt Michel

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Date Posted: 22:08:48 01/04/04 Sun

Hi,
This is something else from Matt Michel. Matt is on a roll ... Or what ... What is that, I month-old donut or bagel? It's too moldy to discern. But this article is fresh & always will be fresh.
While I was trying to think of something vital to pass along, I read this. Matt wrote it for service contractors. I took what applies to any business & posted it here. I left in some references about technicians. This is important enough, I posted it in HTML to give it the emphasis it deserves.
<CENTER>THE BEAT OF THE HEART</CENTER> by Matt Michel
<CENTER>This Is Something To Put You Far Ahead Of Discount Chains (Big Box Stores)</CENTER>
One of the many ways Internet has changed our lives is the subtle � maybe not so subtle shift in the power of information. The Internet has made it remarkably easy to become informed (and misinformed). It�s becoming more and more common for consumers to know more about a product or category than salespeople.
This is a remarkable shift. The salesperson may know more about *his* or *her* product, but less about the category. The prospect may have read third party reviews the salesperson has not. The prospect may have studied all products in a category while the salesperson focuses on his products. Let me give you a couple of examples.
<CENTER>Pros Welcome the Change</CENTER>
Professional salespeople welcome the change. Pros tend to be well informed and are perennial students of their craft. At the top of his game, the professional enjoys encounters with informed prospects. It makes the professional�s job of educating the prospect that much simpler. Instead of starting from scratch, the pro can start from a point of knowledge.
The pro is careful to ferret out what the prospect knows. He asks questions and listens to learn what the prospect already knows. He�s listening to discover what features and benefits the prospect finds attractive and desirable. He�s also trying to learn how the prospect might be misinformed. 
When the sales professional encounters misperceptions, he does not always correct them. Attempting to change them, if they are unimportant, risks the loss of credibility. If possible, the pro would rather work around them. However, if a misperception is significant and important to the sale and to the customer�s satisfaction, it becomes the professional�s obligation to educate the customer carefully and correctly. Sometimes this costs a sale, but the professional would rather lose a sale than make one under false pretenses.
For the professional, a well-informed prospect represents an incredible opportunity for higher value sales. The informed prospect knows is focused on the array of possibilities while the ignorant prospect must be taught the options and choices to shift the focus from the lowest possible price.
<CENTER>Order Takers Struggle</CENTER>
Order takers struggle in this environment. Order takers tend to spew incorrect information hoping they are right or the prospect does not know any better. In the past, order takers might have gotten away with this a high percentage of the time, especially for more obscure products. It�s always been easy for a consumer to learn about cars, for example, but it�s not been so easy to learn about air conditioners or garbage disposals. No longer!
When an order taker tosses out an incorrect factoid to an informed buyer, he�s lost all credibility. The prospect knows the order taker not only doesn�t know his stuff, but cannot be trusted to say, �I don�t know.�
When an order taker makes a sale to an informed buyer, it�s not the result of any skill or effort on the part of the order taker. The sale is made in spite of the order taker, not because of the order taker. The buyer essentially sees the order taker for what he is: someone to write up and process the order. The buyer makes a decision based on information he�s collected and processed independently of the order taker. The only reason he buys from the order taker is that the order taker happens to have the product he wants.
<CENTER>Service Companies Face Greater Challenges</CENTER>
For service companies, order takers have a more difficult challenge. Service involves trust and once the buyer catches an order taker making up information on the spot, trust evaporates. In a sale where trust is a feature of the sale, the order taker is doomed when he encounters an informed buyer.
The Internet is a burden to the average salesperson and to the individuals who encounter customers but do not see themselves in a selling role, such as technicians. Most technicians tell the truth as they see it no matter what. When the technician is well-informed, this works to the tech�s advantage. When the technician carries a series of misperceptions around in his hip pocket, it destroys his credibility. It costs sales.
A consumer may buy a product from an ignorant order taker because the consumer�s educated himself and been sold on the product before he ever encounters an order taker. With a service it�s different. The consumer is not buying a mere box, he is buying a bundle that may or may not include a box. The heart of the bundle is service. The beat of the heart is trust. Destroy the trust and lose the beat, stopping the heart, and killing the sale.
<CENTER>The Management Challenge</CENTER>
It may not be unreasonable to expect front line personnel in a service company to spend time studying their trade, the products, the options, the solutions, and the possibilities, but it is unrealistic. Like the retail order takers, they are unlikely to do it.
That makes it management�s job. Managers of service companies need to either learn everything they can or delegate the role to someone else. Learn what consumers can learn and then train your people so they can do more than take orders.
A good starting point is to search the Internet for your category of business. See what�s there. Spend time studying what consumers will see when they search the Internet. 
Then, make sure that your front line personnel are aware of what your customers might encounter, what�s correct, what�s not, and what should be said to your customers. Even more important, drill it into everyone that it�s okay to tell a customer, �I don�t know, but if you�ll give me a few minutes I will call shop and find out.�
Remember, the only thing at stake is your credibility and the beat of the heart of service sales.
Source: Comanche Marketing. Reprinted by permission.
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Copyright � 2002 Matt Michel

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