When I entered the showroom area, I saw two men in white shirts and ties talking to a tall, thin elderly man in coveralls. There was also an elderly woman sitting at a table eyeing an accessories catalog. My first impression was that the elderly man was either the janitor or perhaps a mechanic. I figured the lady was just waiting for her husband to get off work or something. But when I jokingly asked her if she wanted the Lamborghini parked on the showroom floor near her, she replied, "Oh, no. We already have two of those. We are here to get another model!" And she was serious!
The reason I am telling you that story is that it is a classic example of prejudging. Most of you would have jumped to the same conclusion I did based solely on appearance. If I had been one of those salesmen, I may very well have handled that lead in the wrong way and lost the sale. We who are in sales often do judge by appearances. Often it makes sense to do so, but we should hold off on judging our potential client until our fact-finding has done its work. If our lead has an old work vehicle, or isn't dressed as well as we might expect, we need to exercise caution before we predetermine that our products are not for them or are financially out of their reach. (Remember The Beverly Hillbillies? Talk about making a mistake in prejudging!)
On another occasion, I walked into a different dealership (Lexus or Acura), again trying to make a cold call on the marketing manager. There was nothing to my knowledge that would have indicated that I "didn't belong". I wanted to see how long it would take for someone to approach me. At that point the staff had no idea whether I was there to sell them advertising or to buy a car, or two, or even a fleet! I had stopped by on my way to another appointment, so I couldn't linger; but for the time that I was there, not a soul in the showroom paid the least attention to me. No one asked if they could help me. No one asked what I needed. Maybe they only dealt with customers by preset appointment. Maybe I wasn't dressed formally enough. Or maybe they were just lazy. But I walked out without doing business with them.
Bottom line: Don't prejudge. Treat all your customers and potential customers with equal respect and attention. Take the time to find out what you can do for them. Fit the product or service to their need and then work on the price. If what you have to offer is of sufficient value to the customer, they will determine whether they can purchase your product.
No comments:
Post a Comment