Their Interests
Michele, one of our west coast-based clients was recently in a convenience store in New York City. It was busy and she was second in line at the register. As she waited she observed the cashier in an argument with the customer at the register. Once the spat ended and the customer left the store, Michele stepped up patiently and the cashier remarked:
“My boss always says-the customer is always right, but I say, sometimes you gotta stop kissin’ the customer’s butt!”
While we agree that “kissing butt” is not necessarily the right approach, we know that in service and sales, you will always be most successful when you can truly think and speak in terms of what’s most important to your customer.
This is such a simple concept, yet one that’s often overlooked. When we ask top performers how they maintain their focus on their client’s/prospect’s interests, here’s what they tell us:
- Avoid too much jargon. Remember, you talk about your products and services and industry all day everyday. Your customers do not. In fact, that’s why they rely on you as an expert. If you feature dump (recite technical fact after fact without explaining customer-oriented benefits), you may impress customers with your technical savvy, but your commission check will likely be smaller. Instead, tie your features to simple benefits: the 10.1 megapixels in this camera will give you the flexibility to blow up pictures that will still look sharp. We all understand “flexibility” and “sharp-looking”. “Megapixel”-not so much.
- Address primary buying motives. This key idea is aligned with the concept in the first bullet because everyone can relate to these. Example buying motives are: desire for gain; fear of loss, security, convenience, pride, and ego. It’s not the logical needs (what they want), but the emotional needs (why they want it and how they’ll feel with your product/service) that drive most decisions. So ensure your recommendations and explanations include language that clearly relates to these motives. E.g. This solution should provide you with a lot more confidence and peace of mind. Here’s why…
- Trick yourself into using key phrases that remind you it’s about them. One way to do this is to use regular phrases that remind you to do so. This works in both written and oral communication. These are bridging phrases like: what this means to you is…; in simple terms this provides you…; the benefit for you here is…These little phrases can make a big difference. If you don’t make the effort to connect to the customer in simple terms, you may be assuming they know more than they do; and you know what assuming does…
That’s it. Simple messages in terms of their interests go a long way. If you avoid jargon, address, buying motives, and trick yourself by using bridging phrases the benefit to you will be that you will sell more products and services and develop longer-lasting relationships with clients who enjoy working with you.