*The following is an excerpt from Mark Bishop's book, The Trusted Seller; the foundation for the What Buyers Want sales training program. Contact us for more information.
In order for trust to be meaningful, a buyer must have something at risk and be dependent on the salesperson's claims
(Swan and Nolan 1985, 40). That's why it's so incredibly important when trying to advance your relationship that you respond to buyer needs – and that you ensure your company delivers on its commitment as well.
By definition, in the context of a buyer-supplier relationship, responsiveness means acting on buyer needs, suggestions, influences or demands. The best reps earn buyer trust because they consistently demonstrate their ability to respond – to follow through, to provide solutions when the buyer is in a jam, to meet buyer demands, to deliver on buyer requests.
Put another way, the best salespeople achieve top-dog status becausetheir responsiveness is proof they consistently devote the time and effort necessary to serving the buying organization after the sale. Let's look at some techniques that can help you prove your ability to respond to buyer needs.
Most of the time, when you demonstrate responsiveness, you're dealing with problems – unfortunate events that arise after the sale has been made. But occasionally, you may find yourself in the unique position to showcase your ability to respond before you ever land the big sale.
Let's say you've landed a trial opportunity or two, but you haven't progressed much further. But then the phone rings. It's the buyer and he's in a pickle. His current supplier just dropped a bomb in his lap – they can't deliver the product they promised. "I know this is short notice, but I need 25,000 feet of wire by Monday. Can you do it?" He's just asked for the impossible. What do you do?
Make it happen. Get the wire... all 25,000 feet... by Monday. Stay up all night making wire yourself if you have to. Do whatever it takes to save the day and come up with that wire. Just be ethical about it.
When a buyer asks you to bail him out of a jam, you've just been presented with an opportunity that's way better than a trial. He's depending on you. He has much to lose if you can't save the day. If you perform well, you win a straight shot at earning buyer trust.
Maybe your organization delivered as promised during a trial or two, but buyers really expect such performance on a trial. You're not going to become the buyer's new vendor of choice until the buyer trusts you and your company. And this is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how you can pull through for a customer in need.
To understand why this works, think back to a concept we touched on at the beginning of this section: A buyer must have something at risk (or be dependent on a sales rep's claims or promises) in order for trust to be meaningful. Taking this a step further, the buyer cannot have "independent evidence that a salesperson's claims or promises are true" because the fundamental nature of trust is that some uncertainty must exist regarding future outcomes (Swan and Nolan 1985, 40). The buyer has a lot to lose when he puts all bets on the relatively unknown vendor who promises 25,000 feet of wire by Monday – especially when the only performance he's seen up until that point is acceptable delivery of two small trial orders.
Now, I don't want to suggest that you don't stand a chance of earning buyer trust if the buyer never calls you in a pinch. As you plug away with your trial orders, continue to behave as we've discussed and eventually you'll get your shot. But, if you can deliver when the stakes are very high, you can dramatically expand your relationship with the buyer.
Even the best-laid plans sometimes go awry. Although you should take every service failure seriously, temper the self-thrashing with a reminder that you are human and you can recover when things don't go as planned.
Interestingly, research demonstrates that customers with higher expectations of relationship continuity had lower service recovery expectations after a service failure – plus, they chalked up the service failure to a less stable cause (Hess, Ganesan and Klein 2003, 1). In other words, the customers more deeply involved in buyer-supplier relationships didn't expect as much after the supplier somehow failed. What a terrific incentive for winning buyer trust.
What I want you to take away from the preceding paragraph is that it is possible to muck things up and still walk away with a happy customer. The secret lies in how you respond when unfortunate events transpire and things just don't go as planned.
Remember to be aware of your communications style and how you respond when approached with a problem. Your tone has an impact on the buyer. If the shackles on your neck jump to attention every time you square off with the buyer regarding a problem, you're off to a bad start. On the other hand, if you've handled every awkward situation with grace and confidence, you automatically gain a point or two when faced with a problem of mightier proportions – your great track record means something.
Think about how you felt when... the roofers showed up to shingle your new roof and didn't have the color you'd requested... the carpet cleaners ruined your Oriental rug after you specifically requested that it be left alone... you custom-ordered a new personal computer and the manufacturer decided (on its own) to send substitute financial software because the one you wanted was temporarily out of stock. Get the idea?
When things don't go as planned, you want to know what happened. You don't want the problem doused in sugar or anyone trying to cushion the blow. You want the facts and you want them now. You need to know what happened and why. And, from a business standpoint, you want some kind of reassurance that it's not going to happen again. Last, but not least, you want the person who messed up to accept responsibility and tell you he's sorry!
It's natural to feel badly when you're in the hot seat. However, becoming defensive is one of the worst things you can do in this situation. Think before you respond and consider the power of language – if you craft your responses carefully, you'll eventually make it difficult for an irate customer to continue lashing out.
Consider the following buyer-supplier exchanges. Which rep do you think cut through the tension more quickly?
Scenario A:
Buyer: "What do you mean you don't carry those parts anymore? I bought the equipment and now you're telling me you don't carry the replacement cartridges? I want the replacement cartridges made by the original equipment manufacturer, not some knock-off."
Salesperson #1: "I'm sorry, but we just don't carry the one you want anymore. We sell Brand B now. Would you like to order some of those?"
Salesperson #2: "We stopped carrying that particular replacement cartridge because our customers complained they didn't last very long. After extensive testing, our Quality Assurance department determined that Brand B is better – they last longer than the replacement cartridges offered by the original manufacturer and there are no compatibility problems. Now, if you're really partial to the replacement cartridges offered by the OEM, I can see if we can special-order them for you. But you may want to give Brand B a shot. Our other customers actually prefer Brand B now over the one we used to carry. What would you like for me to do?"
True, Salesperson #1 demonstrates courtesy and respect. But he fails to address the buyer's concerns. The winner? Salesperson #2. She explains why her firm no longer carries the part in question and presents a pretty compelling case for trying Brand B. She effectively closes her explanation by turning control back over to the buyer so the buyer can choose.
Scenario B:
Buyer: "I can't believe you sent me the wrong color of casing. I specifically requested gray so it would match the housing. Now I've got seven cases of black casings sitting in my office. We can't project a professional, high-tech image if our customers perceive we've pieced together our systems from a hodgepodge of parts!"
Salesperson #1: "I know you're upset. But I'm having a hard time with this because our most experienced order-entry person took the order. She hasn't made a mistake since 1999, and even that was debatable. Do you happen to have it in writing that you requested gray? Maybe if I have proof then I can get this corrected for you."
Salesperson #2: "You're right. I'm not sure how you ended up with black casings instead of gray, but we'll get this fixed for you. As soon as we're done here, I'll call my inventory folks to see how many gray casings we can get here today. If we don't have enough in stock, it's early enough that I can get our supplier to overnight them for delivery tomorrow. I'll call you back within the hour to let you know exactly when to expect the gray casings. In the meantime, let me get these black casings out of your office."
At first glance, Salesperson #1 doesn't appear to do anything blatantly wrong. He sounds empathetic, but did you notice his reluctance to accept responsibility or admit that his firm is at fault? He fails mightily by suggesting that the buyer prove to the supplier what he really ordered.
Again, Salesperson #2 wins. She not only empathizes with her buyer immediately, but she also takes decisive action to correct the problem. Bonus point: She personally drags seven boxes of black casings out of the buyer's office so they can't serve as a reminder of her firm's error.
Scenario C:
Buyer: "Whoa! You PROMISED I wouldn't be charged for the upgrade. And now you're billing me for $7,600? What's that all about?! I'm not paying one cent more than I agreed to pay."
Salesperson #1: "We're not trying to cheat you out of your money. We're a very reputable company. I'm sure it was an honest mistake. Why don't you try calling Pat in Accounting – and tell her I suggested that you call. I'm sure she'll get it straightened out right away."
Salesperson #2: "Hmmm.... This baffles me, too. I'm not sure why it shows that you should pay $7,600, but we'll get to the bottom of this. When we're done here, I'll call Accounting and find out how they arrived at that total. Then I'll give you a buzz back and we'll go over the invoice together."
Salesperson #1 may not realize it, but he easily could sound defensive. His second failing is that he asks the buyer to follow up on the faulty invoice. That's what Salesperson #1 should be doing.
Salesperson #2 cleverly puts herself on the buyer's side by reviewing the invoice and agreeing with her customer that it doesn't make sense to her either. She shines again by taking the initiative to call Accounting and then report back to the buyer with her findings.
Few people enjoy making mistakes. Even fewer people like admitting when they're wrong. Furthermore, I don't know anyone who enjoys delivering bad news and dealing with the aftermath of an unhappy customer. That's why some salespeople prefer to ignore the situation instead of addressing problems before the customer or a competitor finds out. That's why others tend to gloss over the mistake instead of initiating a candid discussion of the problem and how best to deal with its ramifications. But when bad things happen, you've got to deal with them head-on. That's what the best reps do – and that's how they salvage their customer relationships.
Although it's wise to serve your customers well because it's the best way to grow your existing sales, the harsh reality is that you face career suicide when you don't treat your customers appropriately. Did you know that just one poorly treated customer tells at least 20 others about the experience (Straub 2003, 1)?
If it's too late, and you already identify with the scenario above, do your best to salvage the relationship. Go back to the buyer and initiate a dialogue. Admit that you were wrong. Apologize. Explain how you made a mistake in chasing a new account when you should have focused your efforts instead on serving your customer. Point out all the great things your company has done in the past for this customer and share ideas on what you plan to do to better your relationship with the buyer.
Sure, it's going to be awkward. No one likes to admit making a mistake. But your odds of selling successfully to a lost customer (a 20 to 40 percent chance) are better than the 5 to 20 percent odds you face when trying to close a brand-new customer (Thomas, Blattberg and Fox 2004, 2).
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