What is a SALESPERSON really?

If you were to ask someone what their definition of a "salesperson" is, [they] would likely say "a salesperson is someone that talks people into buying something."

Maybe in the past, that was a true statement. Today there are a lot of smooth talking salespeople, but how successful are they really? Every now and then this type of salesperson gets lucky and finds a customer that will fall right into their trap. Today, however, most consumers are savvy and will shy away from the smooth talker. Customers love to buy, but hate to be sold!

I will start this presentation by explaining exactly what a salespersons role is in any given selling opportunity.

A salesperson can better be described as “PPS.” PPS stands for Professional Problem Solver. That is what a salesperson truly is. They are an active listener; someone that the customer can confide in to solve their problems.

If we look at every customer that comes to your dealership as having a problem, instead of just wanting to buy something, we can become more effective.

Think about this in terms of going to the doctor. When you go to the doctor, you are there to correct a physical ailment in most cases. If the doctor let the patient chose [their] own medicine, it's likely that patient will not get any better. They came to the doctor for a reason. They are in pain! They need something to remove or heal the pain. In a lot of ways, buying an RV or similar product is the same as going to the doctor. A customer looking for a new RV usually has a problem or pain with [their] old RV.

The best salesperson will take on the role of a doctor and ask questions. The salesperson needs to find the source of the pain, or reason the customer is looking at new RV's. When the reason is discovered the solution can be introduced to the customer.

There are number of questions that can be asked to get the information from the customer. The best ones however are open ended. An open ended question can't be answered with yes or no. The answers will be give us [the salesperson] the tools we need in order to solve the customers problem.

Some examples of open ended questions are questions that begin with or include words such as; who, what, where, when, how and most importantly why! You can use the word why in response to the customer's answer on many of the questions. By asking the customer why, it causes them to reflect and think of the real reasons they are stating what they have said. They will then give you more detail and make sure you understand why what they said is important.

The key here and what separates the top 20% from the remaining 80% of all salespeople, is the ability to separate the real meaning from what the customer says. Here is an example of what I mean.

They customer might tell the salesperson [they] are looking for a 40' motor home with 4 slides. If the salesperson will take the time to ask the customer why they say that, the salesperson might be surprised as to the answer. The customer might simply be looking for more room because in their old RV, they didn't have enough space in the living room. By asking the word "why," it can be discovered that that true reason for looking for an RV is to gain more room. The customer's current RV might not have any slides at all and a new RV with one slide might give them plenty of room. It is important that when the salesperson responds to the customer’s answer that the focus is on the real reason and not what the customer thought his [own] solution was. When the answer is repeated back to the customer, it goes like this. "So, Mr. Customer, what you are really looking for is [more room], is that correct?" More room might mean a single slide instead of the customer’s perception of needing a 4 slide!