Haggling and getting a fair deal

Making the sale

No matter how well you manage to get the customer interested, it is all to no avail if you are not prepared to close the deal. “Would you like one?”, “shall I put it in a bag for you?” or “was it 2 that you want or just the one?” The art of learning when to close is critical. Too early can be a problem but closing too late is usually the least productive. Be bold. Some people have a lot of technical knowledge, but don’t know when to shut up and ask the customer whether they want one. If they say they are not sure, you can carry on the conversation and ask again a few minutes later.

In many instances having a comprehensive knowledge of a subject is not always critical. You may have a basic understanding of what you are dealing with but will be often asked a question of a technical nature that you are unsure off. You can simply say, “I don't know but I’ll find out for you”, then go and find out. People are more inclined to purchase from someone who makes the effort and get the facts right. Incidentally many sales people can over sell if they try to overload the customer with too much information. These vendors are also the worst culprits of leaving it too late closing the deal.

People are usually reassured if they know that others use the service or buy the products that you are offering. “John Smith buys these regularly from us and is always pleased.” A herd mentality prevails, and people don’t want to miss out when they see others part with their money. Crowded stalls arouse curiosity of what is going on and there are tipping points at restaurants where if it looks busy enough it must be good.

Customers will ask for things you don’t have in stock or don’t usually stock. Inexperienced vendors can try and be the ‘can get you anything’ merchant. It is a power thing, trying to inflate our sense of importance. The trouble is that you end up with a heap of headache customers. They will keep pestering you for the items that they asked for and you keep having to fob them off when it becomes difficult to source what they want. These sales people eventually learn to say no. Or they make it clear that they will try their best, but it is not a promise. Saying no, sorry, is hard at first. We can be too quick to say ‘yes’. This applies in other walks of life too. Saying yes, I will come to your party when you have doubts that you can make it, leads to unnecessary stress.

People can be perfectly happy with a product, but they get home and discover that it doesn’t have a feature you said that it had. Now they don’t particularly need that feature, but you said it had it. So, even though it is does all they really need, they now want their money back. They would have accepted it were they not misled. Thus, we refund less if we tell the truth and get the facts right before we sell something.