Salespeople are always taught to speak the language of the customer, embrace their values, and place the customer at the center of the universe. This seems to be true. However, they often forget to teach how to actually do this. Perhaps it’s because the teachers themselves didn’t fully grasp what their instructors told them and simply repeat the aforementioned phrases like parrots, “because that’s how it’s done here.”
Let’s take another sales dogma — to love the product they sell, to genuinely believe in it, to have faith in their company, and so on. It’s the same as before. They say “what,” but they don’t say “how.” So what actually happens?
In fact, both of these rules are very contradictory without understanding their essence. Let’s take insurance, for example, to illustrate this point.
In the client’s universe, insurance is mostly a scam. They won’t get a dime; they’ll be cheated and that’s it.
At the same time, the seller or insurance agent looks quite clownish, sincerely and almost religiously believing in the reliability of their company. They hand out guarantees and swear loyalty. However, the facts indicate that the seller has no real means of ensuring, for instance, timely payments.
At this point, the client either feels like they’re being fooled (once again) or that they’re talking to someone whose brain has been washed. Neither option leads to closing the deal.
But what is the reality? In reality, a seller should adopt the customer’s perspective. They need to put themselves in the customer’s shoes and understand that insurance can feel like a scam. The stories about the charter capital, shareholders, and the company’s age don’t guarantee anything for anyone; the benefits for the customer should be considered from a different angle.
Paradoxically, the seller who believes that insurance is a scam ends up being more successful than the fanatic. They are more successful simply because they easily and without self-denial adopt the customer’s perspective and are willing to agree with them: “Yes, along with that…”
After all, if insurance is a scam, then all insurance companies are the same. Larger ones are more bureaucratic and corrupt, while smaller ones are riskier and less professional. It’s not worth selling something that doesn’t actually exist—like the reliability of an insurance company. Okay, no one is stopping you from believing in the reliability of your own insurer. That’s fine. But, for heaven’s sake, try to put yourself in the client’s shoes. In the client’s universe, the words “reliability” and “insurance” form an oxymoron. Ask yourself the question, “Why should I pay these crooks instead of others?”