Build Trust With Difficult Customers
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Summary
Be authentic and honest to build trust
Call out rude behavior politely
Speak plainly, not like a script
Confidence in life = confidence in sales
Confront gently to close more deals
Mastering In Home Sales Presentation Skills Through Radical Honesty
When doing home improvement sales, it’s important to get enough trust and rapport to be able to sell a high-ticket item after talking to a total stranger for 2 hours. They believe you, they buy. They don’t believe you, they don’t buy. The quickest way to get this level of rapport is using the power of truth. We all know that selling is telling the truth in the best possible light. A good salesperson never lies; only the weak ones do. That’s not what I am talking about here. What I mean goes beyond you overstating the guarantees or the truth about what your product actually is or what it can do. What I am talking about is being truthful in your relationship with your customer.
Why Being Real Leads to Real Sales
Learning to do this is not only good for your soul but will help you build a level of intimacy far better than anything else you can do. Your connection and trust will literally be gold because you will make more money.
In its simplest terms, being truthful is a fancy way of saying that you have to be real with someone. You want customers to be real with you, right? You want them to tell you what their real objection is at the end, what part of your sale presentation is annoying to them, and what part they like or what they really need for you to sell them ? Well, if you want them to be that real with you… You have to start by being real with them.
Emotional Honesty Creates Lasting Customer Connections
People get real with you to the level they feel you are being real with them. Think about that. If one of your friends is BSing you, does that make you be real, or do you just b.s them right back? But if they are being totally honest with you and tell you how their heart was broken and what happened afterwards, doesn’t that make you want to be more real with them?
So if you aren’t being real with your customer, how do you expect them to be real with you? If you know something is happening and you don’t say anything, you aren’t being real. One example of you being real with them sometimes involves you calling a customer out on their b.s. For example, they are being rude and disrespectful to you in the warm-up, and you do nothing. You need to be real with them by addressing it or calling them out on it. This level of honesty will also help control the otherwise difficult customer.
The Link Between Personal Growth and Sales Success
An example of this is one time I had a lady who was just rude to me from the very beginning. When I asked her how she was doing, she said, “Why do you want to know?” When I asked her if I could use her table to write, she said, “Write what? /” etc. It was horrible…so I just asked her, “ Do you mind if I ask you a question?” No…Have I been rude to you in any way here today? No…Were the people at my company impolite or rude to you? No…Then why are you treating me like this?
She stopped for a second, glaring at me, then she broke down and said she was sorry, but she just found out that day that her boyfriend had been cheating on her, and her day was horrible. I told her how sorry I was and asked her if this was a bad time and if she wanted me to come back. She said no ..apologized again, and we had an excellent rapport from then on. Honesty…If I hadn’t done that, the sales call would have been horrible. She probably would have been talking to me the whole time like I was her ex.
Addressing Difficult Customers With Confidence and Respect
Calling Out Customer Behavior Without Losing the Sale
What could be better than calling people on their b.s. and making money by doing it. So why don’t salespeople do this?
Once they aren’t used to doing it. If you let people walk over you in your real life, it may feel uncomfortable for you to do it to a total stranger. So much of your weakness in your own life shows up in your sales call and vice versa. Learn to get real with people in your sales job, and your personal life will improve as well.
The Power of Honest Confrontation in the Sales Process
The other reason is that the salesperson is afraid to upset the customer or that they will lose the sale. First off, if you let people lie to you and walk all over you, they won’t respect you, and you won’t make the sale anyway. If you are telling the truth, they may not like it, but they won’t throw you out, and in the long run, will respect you a lot more. It’s like your parents when you were growing up, they may have said things that you didn’t like, but if you knew it was the truth, you listened and didn’t get mad. Same thing here.
How to Politely Challenge Objections and Get to the Truth
The second reason people let customers do this is that if because your self-esteem is low and you care too much about what people think about you. When your self-esteem is high the only person who you should care about what they think about you is your own. I wasted a lot of my life trying to make other people happy and not being true to myself. Now I worry about doing what I think is right and making myself happy. It's a lot easier, and I am a lot happier.
Some people are also uncomfortable with having a confrontation with people. This really is a type of confrontation, and by not calling someone out on it, you are letting them disrespect you and take money from you. You have nothing to lose because in a one-call close, you will never see this person again for the rest of your life. So why not? That’s why I always say that the difference between great salespeople and regular ones is that the great salespeople worry less about what the customer thinks about them than they do about making the sale.
Real Conversations Create Real Sales
How 2 Hours in a Stranger’s Home Can Build Unmatched Intimacy
Another thing that helps get this intimacy is the fact that sometimes you are in their home, talking to them for 2 hours. When was the last time you talked to someone for 2 hours straight that didn’t involve alcohol? 😊Plus, the fact that they are a total stranger can actually make it easier for them to be real with you because sometimes they tell you things they never told their best friends about, because there is no risk involved. They don’t know or care what you think, so they can be honest.
Using Candid Dialogue to Increase Rapport Instantly
This type of honesty will help you throughout your sales call. You just aren’t using it. For example, if you are in the warmup and starting to set the stage, and the customer starts rolling their eyes. If any part of your visit, they start doing that, you should address it.
“I’m sorry, I notice that you are rolling your eyes at what I am saying? Is it because you don’t believe me or is this annoying because if it is please tell me because I don’t want to waste your time?”
“Well, I know you have to go through your spiel, and I don’t really want a sales presentation.”
“Well John I don’t know what to tell you because this is a sales presentation in a way because at the end if you want it you have to give me money. What I will tell you is that I will get to the point, only tell you what I have to offer and how much, then you can decide what to do. And if you don’t want it then I won’t sit here pressuring you for hours. How does that sound?”
“That would be good.”
“But in return I only ask that you listen to what I have to say, and any point you think I am full of it or wasting your time you tell me so I can leave. Fair enough?” Do you see that by you being honest how your level of rapport and trust grows?
Overcoming the Fear of Rejection in In Home Sales
Stop Letting Low Self-Esteem Sabotage Your Sales Calls
Now it’s important to note that when you are getting real with someone or getting them to be real with you, that you are polite and not coming across like an interrogator. Don’t be confrontational and smile when you are doing this. For example, one time I was in the close with an accountant and he told me that he needed to really think about it because he didn’t know if he could afford to pay for it..
Very politely, I said, “Frank, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Sure…”
“If you don’t want to do this, that’s fine, but for you to tell me that you don’t know if this will fit in your budget makes me feel uncomfortable…”
“Why, Ron?”
“Well, the fact that you are an accountant and from how detailed you are, I bet you are one of the few people who actually knows how much you have in your checking account to the dollar. Am I right?” 😊
“Yea you are…”
“If you don’t want to do it, that’s fine, but can you at least tell me the real reason, because I know you know if this will fit into your budget?”
“Well, actually Ron ………”
What Great Salespeople Focus On That Average Ones Don’t
This is why you need the rapport I mentioned earlier, but you still need to be direct and honest, and if you do, people will respond in kind. It’s weird because it’s like the chicken and egg, which came first. You need the rapport to call someone out on things, but by doing that, you will get more rapport.
If you have the street sense to know what’s going on and don’t call someone on it, then you are wasting your skill. You might as well be clueless and be like the sales reps who really are clueless. You know the ones who tell me how much the customer liked them. When I ask them how they know, they say, “Well they helped me carry everything out to the car.” 😊
Use Humor and Empathy to Disarm and Connect
The best rule of thumb is to say what you feel and ask the questions you are normally afraid to ask. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Oh, I almost forgot about the one time you may have to lie to your customer and why it’s okay. It’s when you first get there and have to say “Nice to meet you “ 😊
Now, if you like this type of article, check out the post on “How To Build Trust: 4 Mirroring Tips” or these posts on closing.
Happy Selling!
