Broken Promises & Bagging the Competition

Guest post by: Sue Barrett
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How Your Procurement Practices Affect Your Sales and Brand - By Sue Barrett

Watching the antics of all the parties in the Federal Election, especially the two major parties, and how they go about trying to convince the electorate to vote for them, has reminded me about what NOT to do in sales:

Make promises you cannot keep
Bag the competition

Nothing irks customers more than sales people overstating their capabilities and making claims and promises they cannot keep or live up to. It's the fastest way to break trust and leave customers doubting you and your business. Making grand claims with little or no substance is foolish at best. In today's networked world, many people have access to information and can check pretty quickly whether what you claim is true or not.

So can you do what you claim you do?

The other thing that can drive customers away from you is making derogatory comments about your competition. If your prospective customer has been using your competitor before you came along and was really happy with them and you start bagging the competition what you are essentially doing is bagging the customer's decision to use them in the first place. Not a good strategy to set up a basis for an ongoing relationship. Find out whom they have used first before you open your mouth and watch what you say. No one likes to feel pathetic because they made a poor decision or haven't kept up with the latest trend, or have their decision laughed at by an arrogant "I know better than you" smarty-pants sales person. Be very careful in how you position yourself and your offerings.

My advice:

Know your competitive advantage and how legitimately it compares to your competitors
Know how to present it in a manner that is respectful and non judgemental
Know how you can help people genuinely, with real substance and how you can demonstrate that to your customers.

That is why it is sadly amusing to watch the political parties trying to convince us of their merit and bribe us with their promises just so we will vote for them. All the while they behave like bullies beating each other up in the process. It all seems so primitive really. I had hoped we had come farther than this. I do live in hope though.

So maybe one day we will be pleasantly surprised that they will speak to us like adults, behave like adults and make decision like adults with the interest of all of us at heart. Good sales people do this everyday.

All this reminds me of a saying: A Politician thinks of only the next election. A Statesman thinks of the next generation.

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How Your Procurement Practices Affect Your Sales and Brand - By Sue Barrett

About the Author: Sue Barrett

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'Selling is everybody's business and everybody lives by selling something' so says Sue Barrett, sales expert, writer, business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur. Sue founded Barrett in 1995 to positively transform the culture, capability and continuous learning of leaders, teams and businesses by developing sales driven organisations that are equipped for the 21st Century. Since inception, Barrett has worked with hundreds of Australian companies challenging thinking to create compelling reasons and continuous learning pathways for people and organisations to develop their skills, knowledge and mindsets to create the shifts they want and ensure they are well informed and equipped for the sales journey ahead.
Sue is one of the leading voices commenting on sales today. Sue has a unique way of getting to the heart of the matter - she combines extensive knowledge, research, insight, and practical experience with a deep sense of compassion to bring forth a more enlightened way of thinking and participating in the world. This makes her stand out from the usual crowd of existing business commentators.

Her ability to distill complex ideas and relate them to life's everyday challenges and opportunities has audience members and readers leaving with a stronger understanding of "self" and how they can begin to achieve excellence through purposeful action. Presenting and writing on a wide range of topics about the world of 21st Century selling Sue's presentations and articles include sales philosophy and culture, sales leadership and coaching, sales training, selling skills, resilience, neuroscience in selling and more. Sue's articles are some of the most widely read in Australia and she is gaining a following overseas as well. Besides publishing on Barrett Sales Blog site, Sue has been the lead sales writer for www.smartcompany.com.au since 2007, and is also regularly published on other highly regarded publications such as Australian Anthill Magazine, Niche Magazine, Marketing Mag, Business Chicks, and Business Deals.

Click here to visit Sue's website.

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