Customers Smarter Than Me | Front Office Box

Are yours smarter than you?

Experience has taught me there are two basic personality types in selling. One which cares THAT the customer buys, and another that cares WHAT the customer buys.

I’ve come across plenty of the first type and even worked with a few, but always preferred to be the second.

The reason is simple. I never met a customer who was happy having bought the wrong thing, and I only want happy customers.

Unhappy customers are bad news for any business. They don’t pay on time. They always have service issues, and the never give referrals. Business is hard enough as it is without having our customers undermine our chances of succeeding. I only want people to buy from me when there’s a strong probability they’ll buy the lunch, and tell their friends how smart they are doing business with me.

So I really care WHAT the customer buys, but that doesn’t mean I’ll sell him/her exactly what he says he wants. I’ll find out what she really wants.

In terms of how they’ll achieve their objectives I’ll hopefully be smarter than the customers – that’s why they’ll buy – and smart enough to know they know what will make them happy. I can’t change that so I’d better learn about it.

So how about an example.

I remember caddying for a guy playing in a major competition at Royal Dornoch. Of course he said he wanted to win, with the lowest score.

On the eighth hole we were faced with a 200 yard shot into a punchbowl green. On the left a big grassy bank covered in knee high rough. On the right, the North Sea with a 40mph wind blowing off it. My man was a leftie prone to the odd slice. Golfers will know this is a combination made in hell.

“What should I play?” asked the golfer. “A nine iron short of the bunker on the right. We’ll pitch up from there and take the bogie.” replied the caddie.

“Well” said the golfer “I think I can get there with a two iron.”

“Maybe” said the caddie “but with the wind any slice will end up lost on the bank. The sensible shot is the nine iron short.”

“Ok” said the golfer “but I want to play the two iron.”

And playing the two iron was going to make him happy. In fact so happy he did it again, and again, and again.

He lost four balls in the bank on the left and was out of the tournament, but he was happy.

He didn’t want to win the competition as badly as he wanted to play the two iron.

The caddie needed to be smart enough to find out what the customer really wanted, even if it seemed really dumb.

What does this mean in business terms?

Customers always know what will make them happy. The sales guy’s job is finding out what that really is and helping them do it.