Salesmanship is helping, not selling
A story of me being a salesman for my pet adoption volunteering
He went up to the couple and pulled them to visit our booth. He started talking about the types of cats our booth offers. I could see the couple rolling their eyes as if we interrupted their romantic walk which my friend did.
At last, they left without saying a single word.
Back when I was in my second year of university, I volunteered for a pet adoption drive. I had a team of five people for my community service project. Our grades depended on that project so we had to make it work no matter what.
I didn’t know anything about cats but I knew one thing for sure - our requirement was at least one adoption. The look on our faces was not pleasant. We thought we could just stand there and have fun all day long. Turned out our lecturer wanted something more from us. So, we did it anyway.
I observed my friend as he “pitched” our cats. And another one of us decided to try again. But, to no avail, zero adoption. It was three in the afternoon on Friday. Time was running out. The event was almost over. I was the only one who didn’t “pitch” because I knew nothing about cats.
However, I decided to try it. I observed how my friends talk and how they approached people. All sorts of patterns, I learned them by heart. I tried a different approach. Instead of trying to pull people in by force, I stand there and observe people who are passing by.
I may not know anything about cats but I learned social psychology. I can read people. That’s how I helped everyone passed this project (*smirk*). Whenever people are standing right in front of our booth, I approached them with a smile and an open arm. I start my “pitch” with the same question, every time.
“Do you like cats?”
It’s not even a pitch. It’s a conversation starter. I didn’t try to sell because it failed miserably the past few days.
I started having conversations with a random stranger who I eventually sold to. The conversation led us to pet the cats. Because I didn’t know anything about cats, I ask her what made her like cats more than dogs. We talked as we’re petting the cats. I felt like I was talking to a friend.
“I’ve always dreamed of having a cat.”
The sentence that shocked all of us including myself. She wanted one but had always been skeptical about it. The maintenance, the food and shelter, the medical checkup, etc. Since we were given a script in case we got into these kinds of questions, I was more than prepared to end her skepticism once and for all.
She was a happy cat owner. We were happy we passed the project. And you can learn something from this experience.
Takeaways:
Develop trust first before selling anything. This is crucial especially when you’re selling online. People are not going to pull their wallets out if they don’t even know who you are. You should take all the time to build that trust which eventually leads to sales.
When it comes to sales, you don’t need a potential customer, you need a buyer. A potential customer is not ready to buy but a buyer is. Of course, you need to find potential customers all the time. If you want to increase your sales, you should focus more on your buyers because they’re ready to buy anytime.
People are natural skeptics when it comes to their money. Your job is to find out what’s holding them back, and give them the reason why they should buy from you. Once you developed trust and gave them the reason to buy, they’re most likely persuaded to commit.
Learn about your customers to find out the surest way to sell to them. Customer research is the most important thing in business. Without it, you don’t get enough sales and your business will be stagnant. Marketing has changed from product-based to customer-centric. Make sure you have what they want, not what you want them to buy.
When you found your buyer, don’t let them hesitate for a second. Hesitation might cause them to change their mind. People are sold through emotions, but they’ll certainly buy with logic. The decision of whether to buy or not is a logical one. When your buyers made up their minds, you shouldn’t let them hesitate. Second-guessing kills interests.