We just got back from a much needed vacation inMexico. While we were there, we got the opportunity to see both some outstanding and some very poor efforts of selling and marketing firsthand.
On our last day there I decided I wanted a good quality pair of sunglasses. We only had about an hour left to do our shopping so, I asked one of tour guides where would be the best place to buy some good quality sunglasses and he sent us on our way to find the store.
Before we got to this store, we found another store that only sold sunglasses. When we walked in we were greeted by a friendly, confident man who spoke perfect English. He began to ask me about my needs and what was important to me in my new sunglasses. He told me all about the different styles and lenses. He told me all about why one pair was better (or worse than) the others. In short, he really made us feel comfortable immediately with his knowledge and expertise of sunglasses.
We then went to store number 2-- A bigger department store.
They too, had good quality sunglasses from brand names we were familiar with. But the trouble was, we were in a hurry because we only had a small amount of time to do our shopping before the boat was scheduled to take us back to our hotel.
In this "bigger" store, it took what seemed like forever before a sales clerk came to help us-- she was busy looking at herself in the mirror (I'm not joking) and when she did approach us she couldn't tell us anything significant about why one pair of sunglasses were better than the next and more importantly why we should buy from that store rather than going back down the street to buy from the first store we visited.
Needless to say, I bought a rather expensive good quality pair of sunglasses from store number 1.
Why? His knowledge of sunglasses that would solve my problems along with his friendly but businesslike manner made me want to do business with him. When you take the time to find out what your clients (or potential clients) or customers’ problems are, then you are in a better position to know what will solve their problems.
No matter whether you are a therapist or a hardware store owner your only job is to help other people solve their problems.
That's why they are there-- to get you to help them make their lives better in some way.
No matter what kind of a small Business you have, spend the time necessary to build trust. It's time well spent and will lead you to many more sales than if you only guess at other people's problems.
Copyright 2001 Susie and Otto Collins