To be a good salesperson requires one to have a high level of empathy, which means he has to be empathetic for others. Putting themselves into others' shoes, is the phrase. The reason is simple, a parallel could be drew by the difference between a conventional ballistic missile and modern heat-attracted missile. The former sets track all at once and fires, but what if the aircraft takes an evasive action? The target will be missed. The later alters track with the guidence of the target, thus the missile can home in on the target once and for all. If a salesman understood what his customers are thinking and concerning, he would hit it on the head. Otherwise, the close would never be close.
But does being empathetic equals being sympathetic? The answer is definitely no. Sympathy means one has to be sorry, pitiful for others. They think what their customers think, they side with them, they want their clients problems to be solved at the earliest moment. In short, they are the "nice guys". Everybody likes them. But the alarming truth is customers would rather make friends with them in person than to buy stuff from "nice guys"' hands. Cos those salesmen actually AGREE with what their customers are worrying, complaining, whining, moaning and so on. A conclusion always follows: They really shouldn't buy our stuff.
Sympathetic salespeople lack ego drive. They go to sell maybe for the sake of money, but by no means for fullfilling themselves, taking themselves to a higher place. In other words, selling isn't conquest for sympathetic sellers, it's just charital behaviors or at best, phychological clinicing.
In fact, possessing the ability to feel doesn't necessarily indicate salespeople have to agree on their customers' concerns. Take my time at EF, I saw many customers with various problems. There ain't no one-size-for-all stuff to meet their needs. Yet for most of the times, we disagree. "I'm sorry, I might take this brilliant class at a future moment, but just not now, I've got another fish to fry, also, I have to talk with my spouse, my boss, my friends about this class..." Things like this often raised their eyebrows. My response wasn't "Yeah, you're right, You need to finish your exams first, You need to focus on hot projects first..." My answer was like "Yeah, I agree, I totally understand how you feel, but that's the very reason why you should sign it up today... because this class would speed your work up and increase your salary by 20 percent..."
Having the desire to sell isn't on a par with having the ability to sell.
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