The Magic Begins When the Sales Person Listens
by Mary Jane
Mapes
A few years ago, Timothy, a young friend of our family, had taken a job selling expensive vacuum cleaners. It took him three weeks to discover that the magic in selling begins when the sales person listens.
Only three weeks on the job, and with only one vacuum sold, he found himself in the home of a woman who had responded to his cold call. The woman was rude and her house was disgustingly full of cat hair. After he'd finished cleaning her living room, he attempted to give his sales pitch. She refused to listen. She went a tirade about how expensive everything was….how stupid it was for anyone to pay that much for a clean house. Through it all, Timothy tried to get control in the way he'd been taught-by talking his way into a sale-- but failed miserably.
That's when he decided to take another approach. He said, "I simply stepped back and let go of the need to control. I told the woman she was right, that I was wasting her time. I thanked her for her time and prepared to leave. That's when I saw an abrupt change in her behavior." He said the woman relaxed, apologized, asked him if he would like something to drink. She then shared with him about how hard it was to care for her son with all his allergies.
"Allergies? Your son has allergies? What kind of allergies?" Tim was now listening closely.
"Oh mercy, just about everything we have -- cats..dust -- I just can't ever seem to get this place clean enough. That's why whenever somebody like you calls, I let you come and clean."
Tim listened and empathized as the woman shared her story about how difficult it was to keep the house clean, and how nothing she'd tried was good enough. After he was sure he'd understood her completely, he responded, "Just so you know what's in your carpet and beds, I want to show you what this vacuum picked up… so you see for yourself what it's capable of doing. I can understand if you choose not to buy today, but you should at least see how well it cleans, especially to safeguard against the allergies that plague your son; it won't cost you a thing to look."
The woman agreed and within a half hour she'd paid cash for that very unit-at the original price he quoted.
By surrendering the need to control, taking his focus off himself, and allowing her to see him as someone who cared about others instead of just another salesperson trying to sell her something she didn't need, he built almost instant rapport and trust. As a result, he was able to discover her real need - and a new approach to sales that made it possible for him to sell six more machines within the next two weeks.
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