Read this dialogue.
- Hello Doctor!
- Hello! How are you?
- I come to see you because my head hurts a lot.
- Let's see. Since when does that happen?
- For a few days.
- Have you changed your eating or sleeping hours?
- No, I have changed hours to work. Maybe it has to see.
- Do you feel more tense or nervous about something?
- No, I don't think so.
- Do you have a family history of chronic headaches?
- I'd say nothing out of the ordinary.
- Let me feel your neck. Where in your head does it hurt?
- For the forehead and eyes.
- Do you take any painkillers, or are you taking any other medication?
- Optalidon, but it makes me less and less effect. I don't take anything else.
- It doesn't sound serious. The parietal area is tight, possibly due to stress.
- Well, then, I really lead a normal life.
- Well, I'll prescribe Gelocatil for now. Take a lozenge every eight hours.
- It will be enough?
- If it does not remit in four days, we will do a CT scan to rule out injuries.
- Thank you Doctor.
- I recommend you take a walk every day, it will come in handy as a relaxation. A greeting.
Now, read this other one.
- Hello Doctor!
- Hello! How are you?
- I come to see you because my head hurts a lot.
- Well, we have Gelocatil, which contains an excipient and 650 milligrams of paracetamol; And we have aspirin, which contains an excipient and 500 milligrams of acetylsalicylic acid. They do, more or less, the same. What do I prescribe? Aspirin, for example?
After reading it, what behavior seems most normal to you? What is the professional? Who is based on the diagnosis? How do you get such a diagnosis? Which doctor will give the patient what he really needs? What doctor will the patient listen to?
Let's make an analogy in the commercial sphere. Let's read a new dialogue.
- Hello!
- Hello! I need a washing machine.
- All right. Look. This one here is good, it's the one I have. It contains an excipient and 650 milligrams of paracetamol.
- Well, I…
- If you are looking for something cheap, I have this other, for example. It contains an excipient and 500 milligrams of acetylsalicylic acid. How do you see it?
- Forgive my ignorance, but what is paracetamol?
- Modern washing machines carry it. Everyone asks for it…
- Look, I'll discuss it at home and we'll just decide. Thank you.
I'm not going to make it longer. It is enough to illustrate the difference between a normal seller - I do not ask - I affirm - I do not justify and I do not sell and the professional seller - I ask - I suggest for him to affirm - I justify and I sell.
Without asking questions, you cannot know what the client wants, what qualities or benefits they are looking for. Nor can you find out what needs you have, what motivates you, or if you have a specific budget. If you don't ask, you don't know anything, it's simple. And if nothing is known about the customer, on what grounds does the seller justify his advice without seeming to move out of self-interest?
On the other hand, the client expects to be helped by a professional, but he does not have to be at all. You don't have to know the technical details, or the slang. Why, then, is the typical behavior of the average salesperson to give an encyclopedic lecture on their products? Why do you explain the entire catalog and not focus on the customer? Such a seller moves around the product, and not around the customer. It doesn't speak the language of the customer, it speaks the language of the product. Such a vendor can be replaced by a computer and no one will miss it.
The path is to move from the customer to the product, personalizing the sale based on everything you have told us you want, need, want, etc. The wrong path is the one that goes from the product to the customer, depersonalizing the process and alienating the customer, lagging him to the category of a number, like an anonymous customer.
So it should not be forgotten that we have twice as many ears as we have mouths to use twice as much. Often, someone who talks a lot is considered a good salesperson. Nothing more false. A good salesperson is a great questioner and a better listener.
