|
When traditional sales tactics fail, covert measures
to build customer confidence and empathy work best, says Anil Kekre
A successful sales executive always has an aura
around him. The “100% club” is looked upon with awe and
sometimes, unabashed curiosity. Right from the days of Watson Sr,
the sales role has always been associated with travel, glamour and
the ability to make or break an organisation.
Volumes have been written and a host of opinions
expressed about what makes a successful sales executive. Even today,
this topic can generate animated debate. I have had some of the
most articulate, impressive and knowledgeable sales executives play
second fiddle to those who are seemingly lacking in aggression,
mild, sometimes less communicative and even shy. While the former
showed immense potential, the latter continued to meet and exceed
their targets year after year.
The contrasts
One of the sales personnel I remember is a gentleman
called Hemant Tiwari—he was not very aggressive in communication,
no public school English, a mild personality, and a shy, benign
smile. Tiwari’s appearance was in absolute variance with the
copybook perception of an effective salesman. But Tiwari could go
and sit across some of the biggest decision-makers with a very friendly
unobtrusive, almost apologetic shy smile. That gave them confidence
to trust him as being harmless to the core, and in a couple of meetings
they would start pouring out their hearts to him. Some even went
to the extent of complaining about their bosses. Orders came in,
of course with the right support from technology and pre-sales teams.
Tiwari had an unobtrusive efficient way of gaining customer confidence
and no doubt went on to be a consistent member of the “100%
club”.
There was another sales person, Vinod Bhatia.
He was not very great in communication, but extremely efficient.
Efficiency and planning were Bhatia’s greatest qualities. He
remembered and faithfully noted down all the requirements of the
customer, and planned his calls, roads, sequences and timing with
sheer efficiency. Bhatia specialised in the art of best usage of
his time and energy. There’s no doubt that he was always a
member of “100% club”. While the approaches were different,
Bhatia brought in efficiency and professionalism, Tiwari brought
in customer empathy.
We had another sales executive called Raju. His
strong points were communication skills and articulation. He was
always well-dressed, efficient and conscious of his time. We had
a situation when one of the key decision-makers at the customer
site had an accident. We sent him flowers and asked Raju to go and
call on him to build up the relationships further. Raju went with
all the aplomb, spoke with the customer for a few minutes and within
no time came back to the proposal, its benefits and the discounts.
The customer was polite, mumbled his responses and Raju lost the
order.
Customer empathy
Customer empathy plays a key role in sales success,
especially in software services. The success of the project depends
on how well the project team and the services vendor understand
the customer. The customer is conscious of this and is always on
the look out for a vendor who understands him. Well-demonstrated
customer empathy comes in handy in such situations.
I recall one of my calls where Nitin (who had
requested me to join in the final closing of the order of a sizeable
ERP package) and I were visiting the chief financial officer (CFO)
of a large company. Usually very punctual, we saw him busy in a
flurry of activities, people walking in and out of his office; leading
to a half-hour delay in the meeting commencing. As we went in, I
asked him if there was a problem. They had ordered a shipload of
scrap. At the customs inspection, the scrap was found to
be primarily rubber while what was promised was
steel for his upcoming Steel Rolling mill. The company stood the
risk of not only being cheated for a substantial sum, but getting
into wrangles on foreign exchange rules. Unfortunately, we had had
a similar experience. I helped him with the process for filing FIR,
insurance claim, stop payment, and ways and means to avoid such
a situation in the future. The meeting had already overshot by 15
minutes. Nitin was restless. We had not even referred to the proposal,
the prime reason for which we were there. I had to bring all my
managerial control to bear by stepping on his foot every time he
tried putting the proposal in front of the customer! The customer
stood up profusely thanking us for all the help and signalled the
end of the meeting. As part of the parting pleasantries I said,
“We were there to collect the order, any way….”
“Oh! Sorry,” he said, “The order
will be on your table before you reach office tomorrow morning.”
It was not there the next morning, but sure appeared a day after.
No negotiation, no scope discussions. The customer had developed
confidence that my organisation believes in partnership and will
go out of the way to solve his problem.
So we included customer empathy in our sales
training. We taught our sales people to empathise with the customers,
never to fail to pick up signals. If the customer looks unwell or
worried, never fail to ask him why. Irrespective of whether you
can help him, empathise! Check whether you could help him through
your contacts with the right doctors. Build up a relationship. It
paid off, till we got a rude shock when we had the following case:
Life is stranger than fiction. Deepak was making this call. The
customer executive Aghashe took him to meet the boss. This was the
first meeting. As he walked in, the boss got up and Deepak found
him limping.
As was taught in the training class, Deepak murmured:
“How are you sir?” “Anything wrong,” he wanted
to continue. The customer executive cut him off: “It’s
a congenital problem. He’s got a short leg since birth.”
Aghashe told Deepak under his breath well in time.
Customer empathy is good, but it has to be executed
with professional caution and not curiosity. It’s a double-edge
sword. One has to be conscious that one doesn’t encroach on
the client’s privacy. If it is properly used, it is very effective.
Immature usage can lead to disaster.
Anil Kekre is Chief Operating Officer, Zensar
Technologies.
|
