The War Between Power-Centered and Heart-Centered Salespeople

Among the many systems for categorizing people, there is one that is especially relevant to salespeople: the war between power-centered vs. heart-centered approaches.  You may recognize power-centered as the high pressure, hard sell that used to be associated with car salesmen, vacuum cleaner salespeople, and encyclopedia salespeople. Frank Robertson was originally trained in the hard sell school but never felt comfortable there.

Relationship Selling Is Serving First

When he discovered relationship selling, called soft sell selling by Judith and Jim, he started to feel at home and to understand why the traditional approach was so frustrating to him. The philosophical difference is sometimes extreme. Frank wanted to help customers get what they felt they needed and wanted. His experience in consulting taught him that what a customer wants is not necessarily what he needs. However, you generally must deliver what he wants and thinks he needs before he is willing to listen to what your experience shows you he really needs.

A true heart-centered salesperson will also warn you if what you want you don’t need. However, if it is part of what you really need, she will sell it with the caution that your solution is lacking and won’t deliver the results you expect because it is incomplete. Remember, though, that generally, people need to take things in steps so be prepared to guide them through the steps as they are ready.

Your Attitude Determines Whether You Sell from Power or from Heart

The battle between heart-centered and power-centered salespeople lies in the attitude. Most people in both categories actually want to help customers buy. However, for the power-centered people, the game is to win. You will find that they must control the sale; they will manipulate their prospects’ emotions, especially fear. As a prospect of a power-centered salesperson, you may feel that the sales person views you as a wallet holding his money and he wants it.

Frank learned that it was possible to successfully take the opposite approach, i.e. to help the customers get what they want and perceive they need thereby helping them buy. After all, heart-centered sales will serve first. When the prospect sees that it is right, he will buy.

Human Nature May Still Need Some Help

Keep in mind though that even heart-centered salespeople must be aware of human nature. We will put off a decision as long as we can. So you may need to use techniques, like scarcity marketing. However, make sure when you use one of these techniques, you do so with integrity. Relationship selling builds on your prospect coming to know, like and trust you. Using a false scarcity will destroy that trust and probably lose that prospect.

False Scarcity and Honest Scarcity Examples

Examples of false scarcity approach:

• The car salesman who told Frank he had to buy today to get the rebate even though the store window said that the rebate was good until Wednesday, which was three days later.
• The Internet ad with a countdown timer that says the offer is only good for the next eight hours then when you don’t buy but check on the offer the next day, you still have eight hours to get the sale price.
• The TV commercials that tell you if you buy right now you can get the item for $19.95 and a second one free for acting right now. Two days later, the vendor runs the exact same ad with the same offer.
• The Internet marketer who says there are only three e-books left.

To use scarcity with integrity, have a legitimate reason for a short window of opportunity

• A new product launch for which the discounted price will disappear after ten days when the product goes up to its normal price
• A live webinar or seminar with a fixed date for the event
• An introductory offer with a bonus of a free 30-minute one-on-one coaching session for the first 20 customers.

Frank used a scarcity technique with a client when he needed an extra day of paid coaching. He had previously made the client aware of an area of consulting that would help him out as it wasn’t covered in the current job program. When Frank found that he needed extra time to finish the job program which he was already there for, he knew he could work over the weekend. However, he could get the client to cover his expenses that weekend, if he agreed to the 10 hours’ extension. The client won by having the extra consulting job without having to pay travel expenses to bring Frank or another consultant back later.

So, Frank presented this short job extension to the client that Friday. He then waiting patiently while his client weighed the pros and cons. (Frank also chanted a sacred word to himself to stay detached and allow the client his space to decide without pressure.) The client agreed with the extra value and signed for the extra hours.

In the war between power-centered and heart-centered approaches, you decide which side of the battle you want to be on. Heart-centered people will choose to serve first. They will show their prospects the benefits of moving ahead now, but once they ask the closing question, they will be quiet and allow their prospects to decide.

Open your heart in selling,

 
John R. Aberle

P.S.

Do you love taking care of your customers and prospects? If you yearn to build more long-term business connections with your customers, get your copy of the Amazon Kindle eBook:

How Relationship Selling Rewards Small Businesses.