Stop Trying To Sell Me

Image courtesy of Flickr

As many of my friends and business associates know, I have a passion for running.  I run when the sun scorches the asphalt and the cold, bitter Arctic wind whips across the fields.  I guess you could say I have a running addiction.  Because I’m always out there pounding the pavement, I go through running shoes every couple of months which means the local running store owner and I are on a first name basis.

This past week, I stopped in to purchase a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline™ GTS 9′s so I would have plenty of time to break them in prior to my upcoming marathon (Philadelphia) in November.  To my chagrin, the salesperson that I usually work with (notice I didn’t say ‘buy from’) had a day off.  In his place was a twenty-something, nice young man who seemed eager to help me.  After some casual small-talk about running, I indicated to this salesperson what I was interested in buying.  His face immediately lit up and he proceeded to tell me everything he knew about the running shoe (WARNING: Boring, technical running shoe stuff coming up.):  the HydroFlow liquid that was in both the forefoot and heel; the mid-sole that had BioMoGo cushioning; the dual-density post that is biomechanically engineered; the (blah-blah-blah-blah-blah).

Not once during my brief interaction with this salesperson did he ever ask me a question about me and my needs.  He didn’t find out how long I had been running.  He didn’t know whether I was a novice runner that ran once on weekends or a hard-core runner than knocked down 50 miles a week.  He never looked at my foot to see if I had high arches or penguin-like, flat feet.  In short, while he knew his product like the back of his hand, he didn’t know anything about his customer.

This brief retail sales situation got me thinking.  How many ‘running shoe salespeople’ type REALTORS® are out there trying to sell their product – a house – without getting to know their client’s needs first?  When you speak with a prospect for the first time, how much of your discussion is focused on the product as opposed to the prospect?

A running shoe sale wasn’t made that day.  I waited until the next day to visit the store.  Sure enough, my old, reliable salesperson was there manning the store.  After he greeted me, he started asking questions, “You have a marathon coming up, don’t you?  Which one?  How’s your training been going?  Any problems?”  Etc., etc.  His focus was on finding out about his customer; not selling the product.  Did he eventually review the benefits of the product?  Sure.  But not until after he understood which product fit his customer.

Just went on my first run this morning with my new Adrenaline’s – they feel great!

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