Promise a Rose Garden and Your Business Will Fail
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Business > Customer Service
Jun 20, 2007
hflasch1
Promise a Rose Garden and Your Business Will Fail
I have been a sales person of some form or another. Whether it was selling mom the idea of a sleepover, or that pretty girl to go out with me or the job interview I was on or the dish I gracefully convinced the hotel guest to order for himself while I was the waiter or for 300 people while a manager in one of the largest and best hotels in the world. I have done selling in about 10 countries. In fact in many cases when you are buying, you really are selling. Sure, look at the professional purchases you make for you in your company. You try to get the lowest price. That is selling. What about the house you bought - did you try to get the lowest price? Sure. That is selling. Now, there are way too many times that I dare to admit that I was promising a rose garden. -We can deliver fast. We will drop in this and that feature.- -We have the highest quality and the lowest prices.- Sorry to say that it has never worked out. First of all, economical circumstances do not really allow lowest price and highest quality. I made the client to accept the top of the top in my service and when we fell short just a bit he complained. He complained even though we delivered way above and beyond of our competition. What happened? Why would he complain? Because we promised something we could not deliver. In most cases the prospect did not even ask for it. It was my fear of losing the business, which made me promising more than I could deliver. I have learned the hard way and have to admit it is still difficult not to slip into promising a rose garden. It sounds so good and feels like it will clinch the sale. Sometimes it does, with the repercussion I mentioned above. But in many cases it actually backfires right away. No sale. Oh yes - no sale. Why is that? The prospect (he is not a client yet) is not dumb and he realizes that you say yes to everything he asks, and more. He can see and feel your nervousness all over your face. He will not trust you and your company. If you are one of those sales people who think that buyers are liars (which is totally not true at all) you should think twice what buyers are saying about sales people and I have to add buyers are way more often right with their accusation than sales people are with their accusation. So the solution is to not even mention some goodies and freebees and higher qualities you will be giving him but make the sale on the basics alone. When the costumer then gets your service or product he will be overjoyed with the extras and this is what will make him coming back and send other customers your way! Oh by the way - by doing things the hard way, you will also get better at selling all by yourself, your confidence in you will rise (never mind the product) and you will because of this holding back always have a few goodies just like - never use the last bullet - principle to win the prospect over. As MARK A. CLEMENT said, leaders who win the respect of others are the ones who deliver more than they promise, not the ones who promise more than they can deliver.
Helmut Flasch is a marketing consultant who uses Un-advertising rather than the traditional advertising methods. Find out more information about his marketing strategy at Un-Advertising Info.
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I have learned the hard way and have to admit it is difficult not to slip into promising a rose garden. It sounds so good and feels like it will clinch the sale, but in many cases it actually backfires right away.
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