Ah, the car buying experience. The ultimate in sales games. My lease is up and I needed a new car. I did my research, found the deal I wanted and went to the showroom. Got a very nice sales guy but when I presented him with the offer I wanted, he couldn’t believe it was that easy. In fact he said that several times. In fact, he kept asking his usual questions about color, interior, etc. even though I had told him it was about the money. There is a fine line between making sure your customer isn’t making a mistake and doing what the customer wants. He handled it well (which was nice) but it could have gone very badly. If you do have a sale go easily, be glad! But, he was smart to double check a few things before we signed the […] Continue reading
Assumptions – What Are Your Customers Thinking?
Last night I attended a dinner event and left the house at about 6:45. Â Until then, I was at my desk. Â A client called at 7:30 and when he didn’t reach me, waited about an hour and then called my cell. Â When I answered, his first question was, “are you on vacation?”. Â Obviously this is an extreme example and I did question his assumption immediately (which he recognized was silly). Â But, the point is, when something happens that is out of the norm, what assumptions are your customers making? With this particular client, it is extremely rare for him to call and not get me. Â Or if I can’t answer right then, he hears back pretty quickly. Â So when he didn’t get me and he needed help, he immediately went to thinking I wasn’t available. Â And actually, this example isn’t as far out as it […] Continue reading
Thinkers and Doers – Different Work Styles
It is so weird how things come up in themes for me. Â Recently, several meetings I’ve attended had speakers who have said everything happens twice; once in your mind, and then once in practice. Â When the first person said “everything happens twice” my first thought was he was going to talk about how to get things right the first time so you don’t have to screw it up once. Â So imagine my surprise when it wasn’t a criticism, but a positive! In my second encounter, the person who said it then followed up with a description of a program he put together. It was amazing to me because what he was saying was he THOUGHT about each step of the project but what I and another woman in the group heard was DO. Â Two different styles that are so ingrained we couldn’t even hear it […] Continue reading