titleA CLASSIC SALES MISTAKE

My wife, Jenna, walked into a Volvo dealership.

The salesperson treated Jenna like she didn’t know anything about the XC40 Recharge.

Here's the exchange:

Salesperson: “Hi, what brings you in today?” Jenna: “I want to see the XC40 Recharge.”

Salesperson shifts into convincing gear:
“You’re going to love it.”
“The Recharge is pure electric.”
“Google is built in.”
“You get 226 miles of range.”

The problem?
Jenna spent the last three weeks watching videos and reading up on the XC40 Recharge.
She was further along in the buying journey. She probably knew more about the XC40 Recharge than the salesperson did.

Jenna came to the dealership to hear how loud the road noise was. 

The salesperson's mistake? He was selling everyone the same way.

When people knock on your door, they have different levels of knowledge ranging from “I don’t know much about X,” to “I’m very familiar with X.”

You need to sell based on the knowledge level of the prospect.

So Jenna left.

Because when you don't feel understood, that's what you do :-)

And bought the car from Richie Silverman who asked different questions:
“How much do you know about the XC40?”
“What would you like to know?”

“Okay, I’ll grab the key and won’t say word so you can hear the road noise.”

The lesson?

Adjust your approach based on where the customer is in the buying journey.

How?

Shift from convincing to understanding.

The lesson?

People don’t buy because they understand you. They buy because you understand them.