6 Ways to Immediately Make a Bad Impression During a Sales Inquiry
Yesterday Jason and I went into a non-Apple store to look at iPhones. The mobile department manager was there to answer some questions we had, and in the span of a few short minutes she succeeded in immediately leaving a negative impression. Below are 6 ways you, much like the salesperson we talked to, can alienate a potential client or customer. Think of it as a handy “what not to do” list the next time you handle a sales inquiry.
1. Act Extremely Uncomfortable
Jason started asking the salesperson some basic questions (e.g., “We’re interested in getting iPhones, do you have any in stock, is it hard to switch providers”) and she jitterbugged her way through her responses, fidgeting and doing the “shifty eyed dog” move. Her sweeping, awkward hand gestures and stammery responses immediately made me feel uncomfortable and annoyed with her profound lack of people skills. If you clearly don’t like interacting with people, you shouldn’t be in sales. It’s pretty much one of those professions that requires some people skills and the ability to fake a smile.
Shifty-Eyed Dog
2. Use a Condescending/Negative Tone
Once Fidget McSourface started giving us responses, she did so in a condescending tone. A big part of dealing with customers and clients is what you say, but it’s also how you say it. You could be giving the greatest advice in the world or making the best possible argument as to why someone should buy your particular product, but if you do so with a negative tone or a certain “I’m right and you’re wrong” twang in your voice, you’re likely to alienate a great deal of your audience. People like confidence but not cockiness, and they especially don’t like being talked down to like they’re dumb (even if they are).
3. Be Extremely Vague
When we asked about the iPhone 3GS we were informed that they were out of stock. Upon asking when more would arrive, the saleswoman refused to give us an estimate. It’s not like we were looking for an exact day and time–even something as simple as “Well, the past couple weeks we’ve received X shipments of iPhones that usually come in two times a week” would be better than “I can’t really say.” It’s like a hostess telling a hungry customer, “Our dining area is full and I can’t give you a time estimate of when a table will open up, but we still want your business so you can just have a seat and wait for an unspecified amount of time.” Don’t be vague–overestimate if you have to, but be courteous enough to provide some sort of time estimate so that the customer thinks you’re organized and value his/her time.
4. Be Super Pushy and Aggressive When Providing Basic Information
If a prospective client or customer is in the information gathering stage, respect that. Don’t be pushy and inundate the person with aggressive sales tactics. You can come off as looking like a bully dickwad who’s more interested in making a sale than in helping fulfill the customer’s needs. And while we’re at it, there’s no need to go out of your way to badmouth the competitor, especially unprovoked. Superfluously inserting something like, “Oh, and an advantage to buying the phone here instead of through AT&T is that we offer a phone protection plan that covers screen damage and they don’t cover anything” just makes me want to buy the phone anywhere else because you’re being overly aggressive.
5. Don’t Pay Attention to Details
The salesperson had me fill out a contact form, and after I wrote down my information she copied it onto a waiting list. I watched her look at my contact information and copy it over to her clipboard, and during the process she spelled my name wrong, writing down “Kelly” instead of “Kelley.” A common misspelling, sure, but when you’re copying something down verbatim and manage to misspell it when you’ve got the original right in front of you, that’s just sloppy and unprofessional. Pay attention to details–remember how to pronounce names, keep in mind your customers’ concerns, all that jazz. Your customers and clients will be impressed when you recall these little details later.
6. Be Dishonest
In order to reserve iPhones, Jason and I were each going to be issued $50 gift cards. The saleswoman said “I’m just going to do two $50 gift cards so you guys get your own and don’t have to share one,” then laughed as if she were doing us a huge favor by not forcing us to share. When I told her she can just give us one $100 gift card, she fidgeted (again) and said, “Well, I have to do two separate transactions.” Wouldn’t it have been easier to just say “I have to ring this up as two transactions, so I’ll give you guys two gift cards” instead of trying to shape a pointless lie? Be honest when you can–even telling someone “I don’t know the answer, but I’ll look into it right away for you” is better than trying to make something up to sound knowledgeable or withholding procedural standards in order to seem more streamlined.
Rebecca,
Hope you have given the lady the link of this post so that she can understand where she was lacking.
You are providing good sales tips. Hope you may do well in sales..btw, Have you join any company? And who is JASON?
Boyfriend, training partner, Internet strategist, and Big Friendly Giant.
I did get a new job and will announce my new position on Tuesday!
Yo, Becs… check it out…
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Get an Android phone instead.
The next generation Android phone, myTouch 3G is coming out in August on T-Mobile (in the US).
If you don’t want to be on T-Mo then by the Holidays there will be Android phones available on AT&T & Verizon (Sprint possibly before 2010).
,Michael Martin
GoogleAndBlog
I told you you should have gotten an LG instead . . . . does yours have a push-out keyboard? SD card slot? Though, the LG doesn’t allow me to deal with Apple sales-douches, so there is that.
I have to give HUGE props to the El Cerrito Plaza (California) ATT store where I bought my iPhone, especially Mark and Maya.
Considering I don’t really even want an iPhone – or didn’t – and I was quite blunt about it, Mark was absolutely straight forward with me. No hype, no pressure, accurately stated the cost, and genially put me in a pretty good mood for what I considered a distasteful chore. My old Samsung phone had died, it needed to be replaced anyway.
Maya handled all the sales details and located a loaner phone for me – no charge- while my 3G S was on order. The loaner phone worked perfectly. When the iPhone came in, Maya swapped out the chip, everything just works.
In short, I’m delighted all ’round with both the phone and the process. Of course, I haven’t got the first bill yet… ;)
But I have to say, you’re experience was what I was expecting, and for good reason: awful customer service is the norm here in the SF Bay area.