The Real Cost of ‘Dodgy’ Salespeople

Consumers today have reported unfavourable buying experiences  across most industries.

Ask someone who is not in a sales career to describe a stereotypical salesperson and you’re likely to get words like: slick, dodgy, snake, untrustworthy, fast talker, con artist.

Ouch!  The question though is this.  In reality, how true is this negative stereotype?

Unfortunately, whether it’s true or not, certain industries have been strongly tainted with the poor sales image brush. 

These include; car sales, property investment, insurance and financial planning, real estate, mobile phones, door to door sales, telemarketers, recuriters and of course those multi-level network marketers who invite you around to discuss a fantastic “business opportunity.”  Oh yes…and then there’s the lawyers.

In fact, our on-going research has shown that consumers today continue to report unfavourable buying experiences across most industries.

Indications are that these unfavourable buying experiences are happening between business to consumer as well as business to business situations.

The on-line survey that was continuously run for over three years asked “Have you ever experienced an unethical salesperson?”

Respondents can identify which industry and specifically what was the cause of their dissatisfaction with their buying experience.

In general, respondents provided a selection of suspect selling techniques that range from sheer apathy and disinterest, pushy, aggressive, unethical and even illegal strategies.

In the main these ’sales techniques’ and ’tactics’ have resulted in people either not buying or vowing that they would never buy from that salesperson or business again.

If you’re a salesperson in one of the industries listed, you’re probably a little hot under the collar that you have been tarred with the same brush

However, whether you like it or not, the reality is that if you’re in sales today, you’re not only competing against your competitors, but you’re also at times competing against a negative stereotype that is etched in experiential blood in the minds of your potential buyers.

Here is a strong warning for all salespeople.  Ignore that last statement at your peril.

The world of selling in this new millennium has salespeople waking up each day with many of them suffering from the ‘sameness syndrome’.

The sameness syndrome is an affliction of quality expectation by the masses, increased levels of competition and globalisation.

Most salespeople are finding it harder and harder to differentiate.  There is a ‘sameness’ about their own products, pricing and service levels and the products, pricing and service levels offered by their competitors.

This can put immense levels of pressure on salespeople to find new ways to be able to win sales.

In the current economic climate, sales managers have pressure placed on them from company boards asking for them to achieve higher levels of sales with less resources and an ever decreasing expense to revenue ratio.

This causes the sales managers to place even further pressure on their sales people to win more sales in an ever increasingly competitive market.

Unfortunately, this pressure could very well be the cause of what is fuelling the negative stereotype of selling and salespeople.

In an attempt to win sales at any cost, the research suggests that some salespeople are choosing, either consciously or subconsciously, to raise the level of buyer apprehension through desperate selling and closing techniques.

Respondents to the survey have reported tactics that include:

• Over friendly and insincere approaches
• Apathetic and uninterested approaches
• Patronising questions that have obvious answers to keep the buyer saying yes
• Ignoring what the buyer is actually looking for and trying to push something totally different
• Scripted presentations where the buyer is forced to listen to an entire ‘dump’ of information with little or no opportunity to respond
• False advertising of what was really on offer
• Applying pressure to buy now or the special deal will never be offered again
• Not revealing all the true costs involved
• Aggressive put-downs when the buyer raises concerns

However, these desperate selling and closing strategies that have been reported, are more easily recognised by consumers today through media exposure and dinner table leeching of their negative buying experiences.

The outcome for the majority of salespeople who are practising these questionable selling tactics is therefore more likely to be no sale.  Or as the results of the survey suggest, they may win the sale, but they lose any potential of on-going repeat or referral business. 

Respondents to the survey also report that they are very keen to tell as many people as they can about their negative buying experiences, which can substantially damage the company brand.

A short term, win sales at any cost sales focus can have a long term and very substantial negative impact on any business.

What this means for business today, in a world where they are competing against a negative stereotype as well as their competitors, is a vigilant focus on ensuring that all salespeople realise that buyers today do not want to be sold. 

Buyers today want to be placed in situations where they feel comfortable and confident to make wise buying decisions.

For this very reason, traditional approaches to selling where it’s all a bit of a game, where there’s a ‘technique’ to deal with every situation, just won’t wash.

In fact, not only do buyers not want to buy that way, supportive research to the survey also suggests that most salespeople are uncomfortable with, and don’t want to sell that way either.

The old chestnut of putting yourself as a salesperson in the buyer’s shoes still is sound advice for any business today.  If you’re a salesperson and you’re not feeling comfortable with the type of selling techniques that you’re currently practising, the reality is that your potential buyers will probably be uncomfortable with them as well.

There is no one best way to sell.  There is no one best question to ask.  There is no real need for 101 ways to close a sale.  Selling is not a game, because most buyers don’t want to play games when they’re buying.  Sure, some do, but most don’t.  If you’re in sales, you can potentially sell more than you did yesterday and you can potentially sell more than you did today, if tomorrow, you stop trying to sell – well at least stop trying to sell in the traditional old school way.

Selling is a process of building trust relationships with the aim to create reciprocal value on a continual basis.

Look for ways to be able to increase the level of confidence and comfort for potential buyers through a genuine interest in trying to discover what their specific situation is, and then, on every individual basis, discuss how your products or services can achieve what they are seeking. 

The key to successful selling is to adopt a professional and expert adviser role.  Ask great questions and don’t just talk about the features and benefits of your products and services.  That’s old style ‘capability’ selling.  Through the questions you ask, create a tailored approach to every potential buyer and you will distance yourself from your competitors and more importantly distance yourself from the negative selling stereotype that resides deep in the subconscious of many potential buyers.

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