Are you scared enough to give them your money?

We all know that fear can stop us from doing all sorts of things, but I am always surprised, and a little infuriated, when salespeople use FEAR to sell us things.   Given that my background is in sales and now I essentially shop for a living, I feel my opinion is coming from both a consumer and a salesperson's point of view.  If you are allergic to rants, look away now.

 

Sales, as a profession is not all about grabbing the quick buck.  It is, in its purity, about serving people and providing them with great service, sound knowledge, and products that meet their needs. Sales is not about using fear to sell your products.

 

So what is fear selling?  It is when unskilled salespeople exploit the private fears and concerns that you have about yourself in order to make you feel inadequate.  Once accomplished, they make their product seem like the saviour to all of your so called  'problems'.

 

Typical fear selling dialogue:

• "Tell me about your concerns"
• "Are you worried about aging?"
• "You better buy quick or you will miss out!"
• "Do you feel like your friends are more stylish than you?"
• "You don't want your child to fall behind at school because he/she doesn't have the latest technology do you?"

... or any conversation that contains the words concerns, issues, problems, or includes tut tutting or the condescending head-tilt that portrays pity.

 

Many unskilled salespeople feel the need to use fear in order to secure the sale. Why? Because it's the easy option. In the same way some choose to critique the outfits or looks of others in order to give their own egos a boost, unskilled salespeople assume everyone has an issue or a problem that they, the hero, can fix. Shame on you. Shame on all of you.

In my profession as fashion stylist, some choose to use fearful, negative wording to sell thier services.  A personal stylist should make you feel amazing from the beginning, not use fear by talking about your 'problem' areas in order for their work to have more meaning.  Guess what - you are perfect the way you are.  A good fashion stylist will help you polish the already juicy apple!  Thankfully there are more 'positive' stylists out there than fear mongering ones!

 

You do not have to make someone feel useless, inadequate or ashamed in order to sell them your product / service.   What happened to a plain and simple nice experience?  What happened to being bloody good at your job, knowing your product and relying on your genuine interst in serving people for success?

 

Listen up people in sales environments:  If you genuinely like people. provide great service and know your stuff, your efforts will be rewarded with sales.  It does not get more complicated than that.  Great service is the new sales, and stores like Apple are leading the way.

 

Next time you are shopping, the minute, no, the very second your interaction with a salesperson conjures up feelings of guilt - RUN.  Run fast and run far my friend.  That person / store does not deserve your business.

OK, rant over.  Thanks for reading!