Do you pre-judge your customers? Do you size them up in the first few minutes of the conversation and pigeonhole them? Have you ever been surprised to find out that the customer you expected to take your lowest priced option ends up taking the highest? Or vice versa?

I have recently been listening to recordings of some telephone sales calls for one of my clients and providing coaching feedback. When I meet with the reps to discuss their sales calls, we spend a lot of time talking about how to best present options to customers. Is it better to lead with the highest priced option and then work our way down or start with a mid-range item and then add in small increments to get to what the customer really wants?

Well, the answer to that question, of course, depends on the customer. If you have done a good needs assessment, then you are in a far better position to know how best to present your options. While most good sales reps always strive to do this, we all know that all of our sales calls don’t always go as planned. So, what if somehow you lost control of the call and the customer has taken you into a discussion of product options before you’re ready?

This is often when we use our pre-judgments (ie. this guy can’t afford my best option!) and present our solutions in a way that downplays our top tier products. It might sound something like this: “Well, Mr. Customer, we have three different product options. Most of our customers choose the bronze level, because it offers sufficient service levels to cover most organizational needs. For those that need a bit more, we do have a silver level and then of course our top level is the gold. Which one do you think would be best for you?”

Imagine what would happen if instead, we lead with our best option? “Well, Mr. Customer, we have three product options. Our first level, for those customers who want only the best, is our gold option. We also have a silver level, with just a few less bells and whistles, and finally, a bronze level for those companies that just want something basic. Which one do you think would be best for you?”

The point is that sometimes our own internal pre-judgments influence how we present – and we unintentionally lead customers to a lower priced option. Be aware of our internal pre-judgments and don’t undersell your customer!

#recommendations #salestraining #needsassessment #prejudgingcustomers