Eager beavers don’t always get the sale
  • sales
  • Blog post

Eager beavers don’t always get the sale

You’re a doer. A problem-solver. You’re eager to get things done for your customer. What’s wrong with that?

Well, sometimes in sales being “too eager” can send the wrong message. For example, perhaps you’ve found yourself in a situation like this:

Your customer is explaining her problem in endless, excruciating detail: “We really need to reduce waste in our plants,” she says. “We’re spending a fortune on landfill fees. The local community is up in arms about all the trash trucks coming and going. An environmental group is threatening to take us to court. And the EPA is breathing down our neck… and … and … and …”

Enough already. You get it – her company needs to reduce waste. And you can help. You’d love to set her mind at ease – if you could just get a word in edgewise.

But what happens if you jump in and offer your solution before the customer is done talking? Does your buyer think, “Oh, thanks for interrupting me and saving me the three minutes I was going to take to tell you all my problems”?

No. She probably thinks, “You don’t listen. You don’t respect my problems. It’s all about you and your so-called solution.”

Here’s another situation where being too eager to please can hurt you:

The buyer says, “I know you sell X, but I also need Y and Z. Can you help me with that too?”

You put on a big, confident smile and say, “You bet!”

Maybe you really can. But even so, you shouldn’t be too quick to say yes to every customer request. Because the buyer will be thinking: “It’s always yes, yes, yes when they’re trying to close the sale. But I don’t believe it. I wish someone would tell me the truth for a change.” In other words, when you say yes too quickly, you undermine your credibility.

photo credit: CarbonNYC

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