Act Personable

Let's play a quick word game.

I say "salesperson," and you say ----?

Being in the profession, the terms that come to mind in this word game hopefully are positive. Perhaps "career" or "professional" came to mind. Maybe you went with "persistent" or "purposeful" or "relevant." (Bonus points for these key "What Buyers Want" behaviors!)

If you are a seasoned professional or even just getting started in your sales career, it is logical that terms we want our customers to use in describing us individually should also be the same ones that we're likely to use in describing an ideal salesperson.

But try this test on someone not in the business of selling and the answer may not be so positive. "Pushy" is a common adjective used to describe a salesperson. "Loud" is another, along with "talks too much" or "fake." Sometimes their experiences guide the choice of adjectives, but it may very well be the media, too. Sales people are not often portrayed in a positive light in movies and TV.

So what can you do to help erase that media stereotype or get people to at least occasionally think of salespeople in a more positive light? Be personable. The buyer is looking for evidence that the seller has similar values and is "like-minded." These internal similarities improve the odds of positive interactions.

Most sales training stresses that you seek to find ways to bond with your prospect, i.e.: compliment the children in pictures on his desk or ask about his golf game when the office décor indicates he or she is a golfer. Those are superficial connections, but if done with sincerity it can come across as personable and not a forced attempt to bond.

To step it up and become a trusted seller, listen to what the buyer wants. Does he want prompt delivery? Does he want you to be able get things done back at the office or in your warehouse? Does he want honest and timely communication?

Listen for those clues and use them to be more personable in your comments. "I hear you, Bob. It is important to me, too, that the warehouse meet your deadline and I will work closely with them to see that it happens. I won't let them disappoint either of us."

That's both good listening and it shows you have a common value in expecting good service. Anybody walking in to the buyer's office can see he plays golf; it is not so easy to see his attitudes and values. Building connections is part of being personable, friendly and becoming someone with whom the buyer can relate.

Go ahead and point out the cute kids and ask about the golf game. Just remember that what buyers want is a salesperson who is trained not just to note the obvious but who is interested in building a dependable, professional and personable relationship.

Why Do B2B Buyers Fear Making A Purchase?

I have a friend who is a senior level purchasing decision-maker for a national organization. Like me, he's in his fifties and has been interacting with vendor partners for over twenty years. From time to time he is prone to outbursts. Not violent outbursts, just stress induced verbal projections at which time he'll shout, "vendors! They're all just a bunch of lying whores!"

Now, my friend is generally a very kind man. But once or twice a year he'll get burned by a "seller's commitment gone wrong". And because I've also been a senior level decision-maker, I find a great deal of humor in his editorial on the current state of b2b buyer/seller relationships. (As a side note, I have no misperception that many senior level salespeople don't feel the same way about their customers!)

But, the point here is that my friends' commentary is exactly why b2b decision makers have a hard time making a purchase decision. The reality is that virtually every b2b buyer has been burned at some point by poor after-sale product/service performance. They've been letdown by the gap between what they thought they would get and what they actually got!

People with b2b purchasing authority typically have many other duties and obligations besides working with vendors. Their main job may be in managing operations, accounting, marketing, production or some other department. So they have bosses to manage and subordinates to look after as well as their on-going administrative duties. Post-sale drama takes up their time, costs them political capital within their organization and is often their major source of stress as resolution is out of their control.

So what do buying decision makers do to alleviate the stress of making a purchase? (Besides swearing?) Easy: they look for the decision that is the easiest to defend in the event something does go wrong.

• They go with vendors they've used in the past because "gosh, we've never had a problem with these guys before!"
  
• They pick the lowest price provider so they can argue that any money saved was put aside to deal with the eventuality of a problem down the road.
  
• They buy from a referral so they can spread the blame around or at least add to their justification for which they selected.
  
• They'll say "well I just gave these folks a trial order in the hopes that we could expand our line-up, I guess they failed the test!"
  
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In short, they look for any help in justifying their partner selection.

If you want to get more new business, or a bigger share of your current customers business, then you need to be the safest choice. Not the cheapest choice, the most dependable choice.

Prove that you have the power, influence and desire to protect your clients from post-sale trauma. Prove it through the actions that you initiate with your customer base every day. I'll share these with you in future articles. If you want to know more now visit www.whatbuyerswant.net