Unfortunately, the ‘soft sell’ revolution has created salespeople who in the main are just providing a service…..and what that means is that many sales are lost.

Let me explain the difference.

Recently I went to buy a new high definition digital video camera.  As usual, I received the typical customer service that I’ve come to expect.

The so called customer service person was almost apologetic in his approach to help me, almost expecting me to say “I’m just looking at the moment”……But to his surprise I said that I would like some help in choosing a camera.

He then immediately started to tell me about the differences between four cameras……I have no idea how he knew that any of them might be what I was after, because he didn’t ask me any questions at all.

He was capability selling…..just telling me about all of the products.

Now here’s my point……

 Choice Without Advice Kills The Sale!

When I go to buy something that is important to me, I don’t want someone just to ‘serve me’.  I want someone to provide me with the advice I need to make a wise buying decision.

You can’t give advice and a confident recommendation as a customer service (sales) person, unless you have found out about my situation, expectations, experiences, concerns, wants, needs, and goals that I’m seeking to achieve from buying a product or a service.

The difference between typical customer service and someone who steps up and provides advice and recommendations is what selling is all about.

Buyers today, whether business to business, or business to consumer are looking for sales and service people to help them sort out the most appropriate purchase from the many choices they have in front of them.

Expert advice wins sales.  Choice and capability, without advice loses sales and creates buyer apathy.

If you’re running your own small to medium business and your sales and service people have bought into this trend, then they (and you) are at risk of losing potential and existing business.

The trend has risen from the necessary movement away from more traditional pushy and aggressive stereotypical sales approaches.

This movement is rightly based on the fact that when most people are in a buying situation, whether business to business or business to consumer, they don’t want to feel like they are being sold.  They don’t want to feel, pushed, coerced or manipulated into some kind of buying decision that they are not comfortable or confident to make.

The problem with ‘soft sell’.

In the pursuit of moving away from the more traditional and negative stereotypical sales approach, there is a trend toward more ‘soft sell’ approaches, suggesting that selling is ‘just a conversation’.

Unfortunately, the shift seems to have gone too far and the result is a new breed of sales and service people who have adopted a ‘passive-reactive’ approach that potentially leaves prospects and clients just as hesitant and cautious as they were if ever confronted by the ‘pushy-aggressive’ salespeople.

The result…..lost sales.

It’s time for a much needed refocus on selling and for sales and service people to become more ‘confidently-proactive’ in their approach to serving and selling.