Who are you selling to?

Customers having more disposable income than your sales staff

If you read the articles I write, it is because you are a part of a business that sells products and services. Starting with employees who “don’t like to sell” to “I can’t make them buy if they don’t want to”, there are many challenges to making a sale.

One challenge we are seeing more frequently of late is the employee who is selling to themselves instead of the customer. An example happened recently as we visited Indianapolis for a speaking event. The host was most gracious and provided excellent accommodations on the top floor in a luxurious hotel.

After settling in, we returned to the front desk to ask about specialty shops in the immediate area. Without hesitation, the desk clerk suggested a chain store that could best be described as “low budget”.

It was not the first time we had seen such an experience, be it for ourselves or observing customers in other types of businesses.

Employees, too often, sell to what they can afford instead of what the customer can afford.

We know of a business where employees can make sales of accessories in as small amount of $5 while their main items can be as much as $14,000. Repeatedly the owner finds their employees steering away from the big ticket items. The reason? The employee cannot afford the $14,000 item and so they decide their customers cannot either.

The solution the owner in this business came to, was gathering both of their sales people each day and hand them ten one-hundred dollar bills. The employee is to put that money in their pocket and return it at the end of the day. This owner tells the sales people that their customers easily have that much money in their pockets. The owner wants the employees to understanding the feeling the customers have.

Cadillac did something similar. While they have since moved their offices back to Detroit, for several years the Cadillac offices were in New York City. Cadillac wanted their employees to understand the social economic status of the target Cadillac customer.

If your employees are “under selling” with your customers, you may be losing sales as customers leave because they want higher quality than what your employees are offering. If customers have to sell themselves, they might as well just shop online.

Who are they selling to? Your employees are selling to people they do not know. They do not know the customer because they have not taken the time to ask questions and learn about the customer. Your employee is selling to people for which they have made what could be a false assumption of the customer being in a financial bracket that has been predetermined by the employee.

With this being the challenge, when does the employee ever sell something of a higher price? We call this “upselling”. Similarly, if the employee is one with a tight budget and makes a point to purchase only what they need when they go shopping, they may be applying this thought process to their experiences with your customers. This would mean there is little, “add on” selling.

Have you looked at the “average line count” or “average transaction size” for your business in the last year? Compared to a few years ago, how has your average transaction size changed? Based solely on inflation, this number should be increasing. A small average line count means your sales staff is not selling but just taking orders.

Being able to increase both of these means the salesperson is comfortable “in their own skin” as being comfortable with the products and services offered, and comfortable with the customer.

When we are talking to our staff; hopefully in an ongoing staff education program, are we helping them to understand who they are selling to? The interaction is all about the customer; their likes, needs, wants and budget. Definitely not about ours.

If your staff is trying to sell the customer as themselves, perhaps it is time to have this discussion.

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