Can I Help You?

I worked in some form of retail for roughly 7 years while I was in high school and college. I considered myself to be good at my respective jobs and always focused on putting in my best effort (OK, fine.....maybe not ALWAYS). I held my last retail position for 5 years before and while I was in college at Staples. Yeah, I did that....(<---that's a play on the "Yeah, we got that slogan there, get it? OK bad joke). ANYWAY, back to my original point. While at Staples I worked in a variety of roles from Office Supplies to Receiving to Office Equipment Sales, to PC Technician. The last two were pretty much the same thing; I spent most of the time selling computer related hardware, software, and whatnot to people.

I noticed an interesting paradigm when I was in this position. 9 times out of 10 when I would approach someone and say "Can I help you with anything sir/ma'am?" I would get the same response: "No, I'm all set, thanks!" I would always reply with "No problem, if you need anything, just let me know" and would then go back to whatever I was doing. I would usually get about 5-7 feet away before I would hear the real questions the person had; "How does this work?" "What is the difference between product x and product y?" "Do you know where product z is?" "What does insert technical term here mean?" and so on.

I always laughed afterwards about how resistant everyone is to being "sold." Now don't get me wrong, I am very resistant to being sold, especially by pushy and arrogant salespeople. The only difference between me and that customer I described is that if someone asks me if they can help and I have a question about a product, I say sure and begin asking questions.

Is it a fear of feeling inferior to the sales person? Or a I think I know or can figure out everything myself thing? Or is it simply something having to do with vulnerability? I'm no psychologist, so I cannot say with any qualification what it most likely is, but I can say in my opinion I think it is a combination of all of the above and that it is different for each person. I also think that the past couple generations have been grown up so inundated with advertising that we have established a natural resistance to anything trying to get us to do something we have yet to decide to do ourselves. It's kind of like building up a resistance to a prescription drug. You may be fine with a small dosage but after a little while of taking it, it takes double the originally dosage to get the same original effect. Considering how many avenues advertising has to reach its audience these days it is certainly understandable to see this resistance.

So what do those of us who count on sales for income do? Short Answer: who knows?! There are plenty of "experts" out there claiming to know the answers to this question but the fact remains they only may know the answers for certain industries. Each sales position is difference and has it's different quirks. Selling to an IT guy is a lot different then selling to a CFO.

The best method I have found is simply to build a network of trusted partners who have similar goals to yours and whose products or services serve as a direct compliment to your own. By doing this you increase your chances of getting the sale because there are more people out there looking out for you and your message. In addition to this, you have to be willing to give BEFORE you get...Yes I said BEFORE. There will be some occasions where everything works out perfectly and someone has a perfectly close-able opportunity for you, but the chances of that are slim. These days, people are less and less willing to give out contact information until they completely trust you, so give them a reason to trust you.

Like I mentioned earlier, I would never consider myself an "expert" because I believe we are always learning and adapting in business. The word expert is tossed around so much it's meaning has been depleted in my eyes. To be an "expert" means you have all of the answers and I have yet to meet anyone who has all the answers for anything. I thought this topic would be a good starting point for a discussion so please comment!