{"id":122,"date":"2011-01-18T21:19:29","date_gmt":"2011-01-18T21:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/?p=122"},"modified":"2011-02-16T21:27:52","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T21:27:52","slug":"what-does-your-customer-really-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/2011\/01\/18\/what-does-your-customer-really-value\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Your Customer Really Value?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n google_ad_client = \"pub-3923845094689161\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; google_ad_format = \"468x60_as\"; google_ad_type = \"text\"; google_ad_channel =\"\"; google_color_border = \"FFFFFF\"; google_color_bg = \"FFFFFF\"; google_color_link = \"000880\"; google_color_url = \"000880\"; google_color_text = \"000000\";\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n<\/script><br \/>\nSell to the customer&#8217;s value expectations, not to your value propositions.<\/p>\n<div>We&#8217;ve all heard the rule of listening to what the customer has to  say, and there&#8217;s not a salesperson who thinks they don&#8217;t listen to the  customer.\u00a0 Reality, however, is quite the opposite.\u00a0 I find time after  time when I&#8217;m working with salespeople across any number of industries  that the failure to listen is a huge issue.<\/div>\n<div>Too many salespeople believe because they know the products they  represent much better than the client, they know exactly what the  customer will see as real value.\u00a0 Yes, you as the agent are going to  have a general indication of what a typical customer wants. However,  when it comes to interacting with a specific customer, you can&#8217;t rely on  a &#8220;general indication&#8221; of value.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>The only way you are going to know what a customer will place value  in is by asking them and getting them to tell you what they&#8217;re looking  for. Sounds simple enough, and yet so many salespeople don&#8217;t do it.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>If you don&#8217;t believe what I am saying, then let me share about the  situation my wife found herself in while buying a car.\u00a0 The car she was  looking at was an SUV with all the amenities of what people expect when  looking for an SUV (4-wheel drive, ability to handle rugged winter  driving, etc).\u00a0 The salesperson continued to press my wife on the value  of these features of the SUV. The problem was that my wife wasn&#8217;t  particularly interested in those features.\u00a0 Yes, we wanted an SUV, but  my wife &#8212; the primary driver of the vehicle &#8212; was looking for an  amazing sound system and heated, comfortable seats.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>I can&#8217;t tell you the number of salespeople who lost the sale  because they failed to understand what my wife&#8217;s value expectations were  with regard to the car.\u00a0 We could easily have been sold on an SUV other  than the one we bought, had the salesperson listened and put aside  their pre-conceived notions of what a &#8220;typical buyer&#8221; of an SUV might be  most interested in.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>I share this example so that you can see that it&#8217;s not just about  &#8220;understanding&#8221; this dynamic; it&#8217;s about learning from it and changing  how you interact with customers.\u00a0 The learning is simple: Listen to what  the customer is saying. They will tell you what their needs are when  you ask them the right questions.\u00a0 This means not only do you need to  ask the right questions, but you also need to hear what the customer is  telling you and then ask them a follow-up question on what they just  told you.\u00a0 Asking the follow-up question is key, because the vast  majority of time, the customer will share with you much better insights  when you show interest and involvement in what they&#8217;re telling you.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>Once a person feels the other person is truly listening, it&#8217;s only  natural for the quality of the conversation to become more real and  engaging.\u00a0\u00a0 By asking the follow-up questions, the salesperson will  learn what the customer&#8217;s value expectations are. The salesperson can  then finally work to close the sale to the customer&#8217;s expectations. When  that happens, they will do more than just close the sale. There is a  significant likelihood the sale will be closed at a higher profit,  because the customer sees more value in what they&#8217;re buying.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>Mark Hunter, &#8220;The Sales Hunter,&#8221; is a sales expert who speaks to  thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability.\u00a0 For  more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read  his Sales Motivation Blog, visit <a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thesaleshunter.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.TheSalesHunter.com<\/a>. You can also follow him on <a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.Twitter.com<\/a> (TheSalesHunter), on <a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.LinkedIn.com<\/a> (Mark Hunter), and on his Facebook Fan Page, <a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheSalesHunter\" target=\"_blank\">www.facebook.com\/TheSalesHunter<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n google_ad_client = \"pub-3923845094689161\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; google_ad_format = \"468x60_as\"; google_ad_type = \"text\"; google_ad_channel =\"\"; google_color_border = \"FFFFFF\"; google_color_bg = \"FFFFFF\"; google_color_link = \"000880\"; google_color_url = \"000880\"; google_color_text = \"000000\";\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><br 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customer&#8217;s value expectations, not to your value propositions. We&#8217;ve all heard the rule of listening to what the customer has to say, and there&#8217;s not a salesperson who thinks they don&#8217;t listen to the customer.\u00a0 Reality, however, is quite the opposite.\u00a0 I find time after time when I&#8217;m working with salespeople across [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[79],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129,"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/momsnetwork.com\/workathomeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}