Buying it back...This is the most pervasive and feared phrase in sales. Pervasive, because many, many salespeople do it so much, usually without even realizing what they are doing; feared because it is the absolute pinnacle of how to lose a sale.
I know a man who, in some years gone by, was the very best car salesman in a crew of ten salesmen. He sold more cars, pickups and trucks than any of the other salesmen, going away. When he approached a prospective customer, likely as not, that person would buy a car from him. (Provided, of course, the prospect was at least a bit ready to buy a car) This fellow had a gift of gab unequaled in the annals of car sales! (Well, maybe not quite that unequaled,-at least unequaled in this specific crew of salespeople)
However, it wasn't always that way. When he first started his sales career, he lost many more sales than he made. His approach was good and he made friends with the prospect easily and he had very good knowledge of the product but, at the last moment, something happened and the prospect decided to not buy the vehicle.
'Duh'--What's going on, he asked himself? He got no answer that made any sense so he asked another salesman who had been in the business longer than any of the others; he asked 'Pappy,' Myron W., the best salesman there at that time. Myron not only sold vehicles, seemingly without much effort, but he had the same people and even their children coming back to him time after time to buy more vehicles.
*Now I'm going into the first person mode, for the sake of expedition.
As soon as I mentioned my problem to Pappy, he nodded and said he had watched me make and then lose sales. I axed him what the heck that is supposed to mean and he said something that made no sense at all to me. He said, "You're selling the cars all right, very well, in fact, but then, you're buying them back."
He could tell I had no idea what he meant by that so he proceeded with his explanation.(forget the quotes)He had watched how I greeted the customers and made friends with them and he said I did a very good job of helping them decide which car or pickup they needed, (actually, wanted)and how informed I was as to what equipment each model had. He said he had watched and he could tell the very moment the customer had, in his own mind, 'bought' the vehicle.
Then I looked a question mark at him, then I just blurted out, "Then what the hell happened?" What happened, he said, is,-after you sold the car to them, you bought it back. I still didn't know what he meant so he proceeded; You did a good job of selling the car, telling them how good it was and how much them would like it and on and on. OK, so far.
Then, after they decided they would buy the car, you kept on selling and selling. Since they had already decided to buy the car, they began to wonder if something was wrong after all. Otherwise, why are you going on and on about the car; You've convinced them to buy,-why not be quiet now and allow them to enjoy their decision? It's as if you need to justify selling the car; something must be wrong.
I thought about this for a few moments and it finally dawned on me what he meant by what he said. And he was absolutely right. And this, of course, applies to just about everything else in the world that is worth 'buying.'
Once a person convinces you that you need to have what they have, be it material things, politics or religion, you need to back off and allow them to bask in their decision.
It's like talking to a Christian and recognizing his faith then, when he drives his car away, seeing 37 stickers on the back; a fish,-Honk if You Love the Lord," Where were you when they crucified the Lord and on and on and on, ad nausea.
Or an e-mail that says if you don't forward this on to six thousand people, God won't like you anymore.
When you obsess on anything,you seem to want to cram it down others throats, it appears as if you are trying to convince yourself, too, to rationalize,- and that is when you begin 'Buying it back.'
I hope I have made this clear to all of you folks (you know who you are) who have sold folks your way of thinking or being and then, in one fell swoop, bought it back.
Are you one of these people? Think about it...
Arf...
