Platonic selling doesntt work

ff'eve you EVER rnreothe platonic friend strategy? Have Ilyou ever wanted to be romantically involved with someone and tried to be their friend first, only to find out they liked your "bad boy" friend or "bad girl" friend better?

I have. Mona Mendez. I remember the day she leaned in close to me to whisper something sweet (I thoughVhoped). "James, can you introduce me to your friend Steve, he's so cute!" Once I recovered my feelings and my ego, I stammered, "Yes." Of course, Steve had no use for the woman of my dreams, but that's the way it goes.

Unfortunately, many salespeople fall into the same trap. Many salespeople's number one goal in speaking to customers is to not upset them. This is a terrible #1 goal. Being likeable can be part of our overall strategy-it should be, as being likeable makes everything in life and sales easier-but it cannot be our #l goal! Our #1 goal has to be to sell the customer.

I recently got a call from a platonic "sales" manager who had read my book, Leadership Sales. He said, "James, I read your book. I don't see anything in there about customer need."

"I'm not as interested in customer need as I am in customer qualification," I responded. ("Leaders Find True Need," Chapter Five, discusses customer need and how to find it in detail.)

The saying, "The customer is always right" is total B.S. The customer is right if they are right with us. Everywhere I go people talk about "partnership selling." What kind of partnership/relationship will we have with customers (anyone for that matter) if one of the partners is always right? I tell the sellers I work with to stop thinking about sellers and buyers and to start thinking about sellers and sellers. Our customers are selling us while we are selling them. Some customers sell us on the idea that we should work for them for free; struggling sellers buy it, successful sellers don't.

People are inherently distrustful of anyone who is not up front with their purpose. "This is just a survey" or "Just come down for afree lunch and afree prize-no pressure." When we try to hide our true intentions, we send the wrong message. "I want to be your friend" is not the same message as "I want to be your boyfriend or lover."

What am I driving at? To be master sellers (and get more business), we need to send the message to our customers (in everything we say and do) that we want their business. We are absolutely not interested in being their platonic salesperson. The sooner we send this message the better.

Will we have more friction and rejection if we send the message "I want to be your boyfriend (read salesperson)" versus "I want to be your friend (read quotron-a salesperson who quotes and quotes, but never gets the business)"? Yes. Thank goodness! Friction is fun. Friction is necessary.

Friction finds out the truth much sooner.

All we have as salespeople is our time. We should not waste it, but many struggling sellers do. Their belief is that by being congenial and agreeing with the customer on everything and not demanding reciprocation for services, they will endear themselves to the customer and thereby become their supplier. They do endear themselves to customers, but not as suppliers but as quotrons. And let's be clear: customers need and want quotrons in their lives-we just can't be one of them.

The best sellers I know are charming, likable and proud of what they do. They send a very clear message from their first contact with potential customers, "I want to sell you."

When a salesperson is let go, we will often follow up with their ex (non) customers. "Why didn't you buy from John?" You would be shocked how often we hear. "John was a great guy. We really liked him. He just never asked for the order."

To be master sellers we cannot confuse likability with being a carpet. While we are being charming, we must also send the message that we desire our customer's business. Desire is very dfficult to say no to. Ask for the business early and often.

James Olsen Reality Sales Training (s03) s44-3572 james@ reality-salestraining.com

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