book excerpt

      You just cannot please all of the people all of the time.

      Roughly speaking, between 10-12% of a crowd will not click with you even if you turn yourself inside out trying. It does not necessarily translate that you cannot do business with them; it just means that you have to try much harder and to learn their likes, their dislikes and maybe even their philosophies on buying and selling. You have to do your job flawlessly and get down to business. You have to learn to earn your shekels.

     This may come as a total surprise to some of you but most professional Buyers appreciate and utilize salespersons eagerly and will generally put themselves out in various ways in order to give them an audience even if it means squeezing fifteen minutes into an already overcrowded day.    It depends upon the product, the timing and the need. Buyers crave the technical assistance and information which is generally to be found with any experienced sales person, especially when there is an ongoing perplexing problem to be dealt with but even when there is not.

     Nothing will endear you to an industrial customer more quickly than yourself, or someone in your company, solving a troublesome technical issue for the customer experiencing a glitch or a problem. That needed professional assistance, the right word at the right time, the little extra effort to accommodate customers …these are the efforts which will assist you in scoring winning goals. Enough of these and you will be in like Flynn.

     Unfortunately it can all come to a tragic halt if every time they meet you or speak with you, you manage to tick them off somehow. If you are a technical expert who cannot deliver the goods, what is the use? The customer won’t want to waste their time on you or if they do, they will pick your brain and then order from someone else!

     The following pages describe in detail ways in which we can be unknowingly working against ourselves in dealing with customers. And a significant key in that regard, is not promising what you cannot positively deliver.   Sure you want to impress the customer. It's been drilled into your head time after time that you can and must win a customer’s confidence within a minute and a half of entering their office. Your goal, by the end of your initial visit, is often to have convinced your audience that yes, it just so happens that you do happen to walk on water.

     But what if the rest of your organization does not? What if they get woozy at the sight of water in a ditch as they drive by in a car? What if they are mere mortals? As the one who made the promise … you also become the one who lied. Customers really hate that.

    The big difference between adventure and disaster, besides the spelling, of course, is the preparation.   Know your limitations and don’t over-promise. Lesson number one: Don’t bomb the first time out! Lesson number two: Don’t bomb any time afterwards!

     You have to work on not becoming your own worst enemy. Without realizing it we can tend to work the hardest against our own selves.

     At times we may appear overconfident or brash in what we think we can accomplish. At times sales people come across or can be perceived as arrogant when they call upon customers without adequate preparation, assuming that they can quickly grasp the customer’s needs even though they have never met or researched their product needs. This is never a good plan. Especially when the customer is planning on testing you out to see what you are bringing to the table.

     Every office visit, new or old, must be treated as if it were brand new and researched well beforehand.

     The order of the following list of “heads up” opportunities does not necessarily indicate how important the issue mentioned is. They cannot possibly apply to everyone at the same rate in any regard. The points are simply a reminder in the event that you are slacking off or falling into bad habit or two. Every customer will have his/her own pet peeves about things but don’t sweat it, just know what to expect and how to correct it.

     So, taking it from the top, in random order but not random in importance, here is a quick list of “get your act together” ideas to prevent yourself from being placed on the dreaded “most loathed” list which all Buyers have tucked away in their desk and tattooed onto the insides of their eyelids.

     Repetition is a good thing and so I will repeat the highlights. We often tend to work against ourselves without even knowing it. For starters, don’t be overconfident and never assume that you know the customer.

     Treat every order as if it were new, giving it critical attention and foresight, anticipating the need and knowing the circumstances the customer is in. Save yourself big headaches.

Ironically all of the pointers start with DO NOT ….

·Promise a delivery date you know you cannot meet.
·Quote an item as “stock” when the product is a thousand miles away.
·From an order of ten, ship one and back order nine.
·Sell directly to the shop floor.
·Ask to see your competitor’s price quote.
·Hold off filling an order because the PO price differs slightly from the quoted price.
·Treat the requested documentation with indifference.
·Repeatedly show up for an unscheduled office visit by just dropping in.
·Quote third-rate quality to a first-rate company, simply to bag an order.
·Do not beg or cry or grovel on your knees for an order. Don’t kiss the ground or lick shoes. Do not       promise yours or anyone else’ first born.
·Quote delivery 4-12 or 12-24 weeks or something equally ambiguous.
·Charge a customer for samples.
·Fail to make the customer problem, your problem.
·Be ignorant of your product lines. Try and bluff your way by pretending that you know something you actually do not.
·Call a professional “Bud” and during an office visit while laughing loudly at everything anyone says, funny or not.
·Malign or bad mouth your competition.
·Go home at any time on a Friday afternoon in the middle of a RUSH order for an important customer and not tell anyone.
·Ship a RUSH order over a weekend via a carrier bound by union hours and restrictions.
·Neglect to pass along a quantity or other discount.
·Implement price hikes on the same product 2 or 3 times per year.
·Act as if you are doing the customer a big, big favor by reminding them of all you are doing for them.
·Add on additional charge to a PO without telling the customer first.
·Reek of garlic, onions, cigarettes, booze, aftershave, perfume or have outrageously bad breath.
·Sport a duck tail haircut and talk like Fonzie from Happy Days. (just be you)
·Show your impatience with the customer. (even when justified)
·Talk too much.
·Send illegible or stock coded only, packing lists.
·Repeatedly quote in a different currency and not specify which it is until someone asks.
·Buy and resell something from Canadian Tire at a huge markup to the customer. (don't laugh, it happens)
·Become too “familiar” with a customer. Get too personal.
·Repeatedly forget the customer’s name.
·Loudly offer a lunch invitation, a beer, drink or anything like it, for others to hear.
·Don’t answer telephone calls or emails.
·Go over the Buyer’s head.
·Admit that some customers get better service.
·Inundate a Buyer with catalogues, literature or phone calls.
·Bid on a Package not of your expertise.
·Use political clout or external pressures to obtain an order.

   These are some of the irritations which can lose you a customer or prevent you from winning an account with a valuable supplier. I tried to stop at twenty five but couldn’t.    Ironically, the list looks almost exactly the same year after year. These are the same old peeves in the same old places.

     As the experts, in sales, what do you think can be the problem?

     For the bards among us let me put it another way,

I walk down the street.
There is a hole.
I don’t see it.
I fall in.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes a very long time to get out.
I walk down the same street.
There is still a deep hole.
I pretend not to see it.
I fall in.
I pretend it’s still not my fault.
It takes a long time to get out.
I walk down the same street.
There is still the same deep hole.
I see it.
I fall in anyway.
It’s a habit.
I get out quicker this time.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole.
I see it.
I walk around it.
I don’t fall in.
I walk down a different street.

Portia Nelson

     I did not write that, Portia did. I wish had written it. I also wish that every reader would remember it. I’m going to.

     If the road you are taking isn’t getting you there, take another. If there are potholes deep enough to fall into so as you cannot get out of them, then take the other road, but if the potholes aren’t too deep and if it is the only road, then get to work and fix the holes. See if they are fixable, don’t drive or walk around them … repair them.

     But we are still on the subject of how to tick off a customer (or Buyer) the easy way. Well, if you’ve followed some of the steps we’ve already covered, you are already doing it, believe me.
Moving onward, we’ll progress by traveling inside some pretty wild and surreal territory, say, like inside the customer’s mind? Ever been inside a Buyer’s head? Of course you have, you just didn’t know it. As a consumer you become the Buyer, you are the demanding, dogmatic person wanting something (everything) for nothing. You are the individual who is difficult to satisfy and who knows more than the salesperson serving you.

     This being the case, both parties should be able to look at each and every situation which arises from both perspectives, as a buyer and as a seller. The onus however, is for the seller to cater to the buyer. That’s just how it works.

     Go on, admit it. Sometimes even sales people are customers just like everyone else. We all are.   You recognize good or exceptional service because that is how you behave in your own business. You already appreciate what it takes to be an exceptional sales person. You know that as the expert it is up to you to elicit as much information from the customer as possible before you can assist them properly.

     The more information he/she gives you, the more informed your recommendation and the more you actually listen … the better and more useful the exchange will be.

     You are aware that the sales person must in a very subtle manner, take control and guide the conversation. It is up to you, the professional, to investigate and get to know exactly what your customer requires and why he/she needs it.   And here is something else. If it is a commercial customer, you must also clearly understand the repercussions of your failure to deliver what they eventually order.

     For instance, in business applications, you should be aware the details surrounding a customer part or a product.

For instance:

·the precise part/product application

·the product usage and packaging

·product quality standards

·company procedure regarding documentation

·Quality Control inspections and procedures for the order

·the habits of the installers (mechanics, mechanics, fitters etc.) i.e do they install properly or take short cuts such as replacing a component instead of a unit, what can the mechanics/electricians get by with in a pinch, are there any other alternatives, is there a better product they could be using …?

    In short, make the customers' business … your business. Get inside their heads, people.
Now let’s review the top ten … or twenty … or thirty do-not-do’s in the buying/selling world. Here is number one … (remember there is no particular order).

                                                                   Chapter One ...