What Buyers Don’t Want to Hear

By Allan Pulga

Jeffrey Gitomer, sales and customer service columnist at Bizjournals.com, regularly receives questions and opinions from readers. Last July, he shared the following reader letter:

“As a buyer, I try to establish relations with every person or company I buy from. If the experience is pleasant, they are the first ones I call the next time around. If the experience is unpleasant, I have a list on my wall of who to avoid doing business with,” wrote the reader.

The reader listed four turn-offs which should resonate to salespeople everywhere:

“Salespeople who start the conversation with a joke or a saying like, ‘You’re harder to get a hold of than the president.’ I have trouble hearing anything they say after that.”

“Salespeople who tell me I have to order today because their special pricing ends.”

“Salespeople who tell me, ‘We are sending you the new catalog today. What free gift would you like us to send with that?’ Any time someone is offering a free, personal gift, I automatically shut down. Offering gifts is bad business.”

“Salespeople who give me a good price at first, only to double it the next time I order. We buyers want to come back to you for more services or products. All you have to do is prove yourself.”

Gitomer re-iterates the important sales lessons contained in this reader’s letter.

1. Don’t start out with the stupid, bad joke. And don’t begin with small talk that makes you look small, he says. Start with meaningful, engaging dialogue. The customer’s time is valuable. Don’t waste it and make yourself look silly.

2. Whatever you’re selling, create dialogue about it right away. And the dialogue should be about how the customer could use the product and benefit from using it.

3. Buyers are looking for consistency, he adds. Offer consistent reliability, quality and pricing. Customers don’t only look for the lowest price because most vendors’ prices are relatively the same. The key vendor differentiators are quality and service.