Rule Number Two: You have to get over the idiot hurdle.
I understand that sounds a bit rough, but you probably don’t know what I am talking about here. Let me explain. We live in a cynical, sarcastic, and snarky time and place where people assume that sales and customer service people are idiots. In many people’s experience, they’ve dealt with people who were not well trained, not well suited, and probably not well supported in their sales or service jobs. Customers and prospects shape their opinions through having had lousy customer service or sales experiences.
It is also true that some people come off a little rough and a little brusque with sales and customer service people, and not all salespeople know how to handle that. So the relationship between sales and service people, their customers, and prospects often goes sour immediately on the first contact.
Your job is to quickly show that person, who comes to you in a sales or service interaction that you’re not an idiot. When people realize the person with whom they’re dealing is not an idiot, their resistance, their anger, their bad attitudes will just sort of fade away.
You’ll be able to have some open and honest discussion with them about how easy it is to move forward with your service or product. People love buying from people who know how to sell and know how to build business relationships. People like buying from people who are empathetic and capable. Customers and prospects live in a strange dichotomy. They think sales and customer service people are idiots, but they like buying from people who aren’t idiots. Your job is to show them you’re not an idiot and things will go well. That’s not always easy to do because sometimes people are constantly judging. This is especially true if you’re meeting someone in person for the first time or someone’s calling you on the phone. Sometimes as soon as you say hello, their first thought is; “gosh I have to speak to another idiot.” That makes it tricky.
