Prejudge is like an invisible wall surrounds us in many ways. There is a question I often ask in my seminars and training:
“Who sees himself as a very good sales person and able to understand if the customer will purchase, as soon as enters to the store or showroom.”
Many hands raise however these hands identifies the one who doesn’t really use their own potential.
Thinking that, you can foresee the purchasing result of the customer, and treating the customer accordingly with this opinion or let’s say prejudge, is a self-confirming vicious circle. At the end of the day, the customer probably won’t buy. But the fact is, this result is totally depending on the experience we offer and how we treat them. When a salesperson decides that and believe the customer won’t buy, then never give the necessary service and gives up easily to be able to sell to the customer. Obviously, you lose the potential of the sales and you lose one more customer who accessed your store or showroom. The funniest part is you say yourself “I am right again and how expert I am” and proud part!
After I explain these stories, the ones raised hands just couple of minutes ago replace with face downs. They would say “no, this can’t be true. I give such an effort but they don’t buy.” This is valid for any industry from retail to automotive, banking, telecommunication etc. where there is face-to-face selling. While we think, we know our customers very well, this shows that we don’t know ourselves and our prejudges and how important is the effect on results. Because we usually measure success in business however we choose to dismiss measuring the real potential or missed cases.
"We can’t shot the target eyes closed!"
We must get rid of our opinions and approach each customer equally. Because we are not able to know who is the customer, what is the purchasing power, what they really look for or need. If you don’t treat the young lady came in your store well enough just because you think she is too young to buy that expensive piece, you may lose the chance her return with her parents who are very rich. I know several rich people driving very expensive cars, but at the gas stations people think they are not owner but driver. Because he doesn’t fit the image in their minds to own a such car. Sometimes I think the reason of e-commerce success is while shopping online, they treat everybody equally. They give the same service quality level. They don’t care how you look, how you wear. Even they customize your shopping experience to improve conversion. Online and offline sales should continuously learn from each other regarding how to treat customer.
It is possible to give endless number of examples but at the end, I would like to say that we should get rid of our prejudice to show our real potential and to succeed. We should try to touch their hearts instead of recognizing them from eyes.