Are You A Good Salesperson? What I Never Considered (And Why It Should Be Part Of Your Process)
I just recently got back from my honeymoon! Over our vacation, Kyle and I had an experience that I really wanted to talk about because it really stood out to me as far as sales go. I’d love to hear if any of you have ever had this experience or if you have gone through something similar.
Kyle and I went to a presentation on a vacation club. It sounded super cool to us! What is really interesting to me during a sales situation is that I love to sit back and try to take a step out of the situation. I observe how I would feel if I were the salesperson or if I were the potential customer. I take note of how I feel, what I did or didn’t like. I think that helps to make me a better salesperson and also teach and share about the different things that I get out of that situation.
"First They're Sweet"
We were taken to breakfast by one of the salespeople and then we went in to watch the presentation. They were being so nice, right? Talking to us like, “ We’re so happy you’re here.” Being super, super friendly. Then, there were 2 salespeople that came to talk to us about the offer, and then we got down to talking about the pricing. It was a lot of money! I’m trying to work on my own mindset and stop using the words “expensive” or “cheap”. Instead I try to use words like “lower cost” and “higher cost” because I think there can be a lot of other things attached with words like “expensive” or “cheap”. However, this was a really expensive offer in my mind based on my own priorities and how I use my own money.
So, I was sitting back and watching them talk to Kyle about the offer, seeing how he was responding, seeing what they were saying. The one salesperson was pulling out every trick in the book with regards to talking about price. I was like “I know every single thing that she’s doing!” Honestly, good for her. She’s obviously very good at this and that’s great. She was doing an A+ job as a salesperson I think. I always talk about it in our group. Sales to me is the ability to explore an offer together with another person to see if it makes sense to them. And you do that through clear communication (and a bunch of other things). So, Kyle wanted to sign up and I said, “Let's go for it.” Then, we went to cancel a couple of days later…
"Then They're Sour"
Everybody went from: “We’ll give you presents.” “We’’ll get you all these special things while you’re at the resort.” (I mean, who doesn’t love free things?) Then when we went to cancel, it was like all of the air was deflated out of the situation. The 2 salespeople that we had a conversation with, would not speak with us. Of course they wanted to know why we canceled and we shared with them a low key reason. They were pissed.
I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I never had that same reaction myself when a client has canceled or something didn’t go the way I wanted it to in a sales situation. However, the way I felt as a potential customer, upon canceling, made me feel like I would 100% never ever purchase from them again. Ever. You could tell that they were extremely upset. They stopped talking to us. They never gave us this thing they said they would give us. Which is fine. It was expected.
So What Does This Mean About the Sales Process?
It really hit me that the sales process doesn’t end when you make the sale, right? We talk about this in our group. The sales process continues once you’ve sold an evaluation or plan of care. As long as you are working with someone, you are still selling to them. Because you’re selling them on showing up to their next appointment. It's not going to be the first sale in that relationship. As long as you’re working with someone, you’re continuing to sell them on showing up, on their home exercise program, following instructions, whatever. It’s not just monetary sales.
Even after you finish working with them, if they have another issue down the line, you’re still selling, communicating, and seeing what offer makes the most sense for this person in their current state based on their goals.
This situation last week made me realize the sales cycle now branches. It not only continues if you are going to work with someone. It continues if you’re not going to work with them. It makes sense but I never thought about it before.
What I Think A Good Salesperson Looks Like
I had a mobile eval today that is a good example of this. I went to the patient’s home and did an evaluation. At the end of our appointment he said he’s interested in figuring out how out-of-network reimbursement works because he wants to work with me. However, because of a couple of expenses he's had in the past month, he doesn't know if he can afford to pay for services. Which I get. Here's what I did for this patient. While I was there, we talked through a few different scenarios on how things could shake out after we got more info from his insurance company. But I’m going to help him. I told him that I'm going to do his notes and write up a HEP, do some research, send post op protocols so he can be educated on what he’s going through, etc. Whether we go through this or not, I will help find someone to help him. That’s the way I believe in doing sales.
I haven't spoken with everyone in the Facebook group, but I hope that if you are someone I have spoken with, that you felt that you were helped. I know not everyone is going to jive with everyone and that’s ok. I hope that you have felt helped and supported. Even though I sell coaching, marketing, and PT services, I hope that it still comes across that I want to help.
I had a call with someone tomorrow and she canceled. I’m kind of bummed. I thought we clicked. It could be for any number of reasons that she canceled. Just like this experience Kyle and I had, we could have been canceling what we purchased for any number of reasons. It’s not personal, it's not against the company. We were just not the right fit for the offer. And that’s ok, even though it stinks sometimes. Especially if you’re going to work with a patient. You evaluate them, and you feel like things are 100% good to go! If they don’t continue with you, it’s not necessarily because you did something wrong, or they didn’t like you (although that does happen sometimes), but they could just be canceling.
The Takeaway
The main thing I want you to take away from this is: just because someone cancels, or stops coming, or tells you they can’t afford it, it’s not where your obligation as a salesperson ends. I would highly encourage you to continue the sales process. I say something along these lines when a situation like that happens:
“I get it. I’m bummed we won’t be working together but I understand. Even though we aren’t going to be moving forward together, here are some things we talked about. Attached are some resources. Let me know if you want me to get you in touch with someone else to help you. If anything changes in the future, please let me know.”
I believe this is how sales should be done and I wanted to share with you. Even though I didn’t really think about it before, I can totally see after our experience of being completely shut out why even if someone doesn’t work with you, you still have to finish the sales cycle in a positive way. Because you don’t know how this will impact things down the line.
If you're looking for more guidance on sales and how to be a good salesperson, reach out! You can email me at morgan@thewellphysio.com or book a call with me for your next steps.
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