How Salespeople Can Understand Customers Better

The human engagement between customers and salespeople is an interesting phenomenon to observe, especially during the first few minutes of meeting each other. If you look closely at their facial expressions and body language, most of us will be able to draw fairly accurate conclusions, even if we can’t hear a word anyone is saying. Why? It’s because many of us have a basic understanding of normal human behavior when observing two people talking to each other. Our nonverbal clues and body language can often reveal a great deal about how each of us is feeling, when we’re looking for it.

 If it’s this easy to figure out, then why do so many salespeople struggle in the early stages of meeting a customer for the first time? My experience has been that both tend to allow preconceived notions, life experiences and imaginary perceptions of each other to redirect focus away from how we could better coexist to achieve the same goals. The customer wants to buy something, and the salesperson wants to sell something.  

Some customers are concerned that the salesperson may not be honest with them or listen to them, and too many salespeople are hell-bent on proving their knowledge, competence and value to the customer within the first few minutes of their interaction to increase the likelihood of selling something. Some experienced salespeople can sense when a customer is anxious or edgy, and take extra steps to help their customer relax, but many do not. 

Even without the anxiety, both the customer and salesperson also have specific objectives that may clash. The often desperate, commission-based salesperson has a system they must follow, and then you have a customer who wants a great product at a great price. Both have a great deal at stake, in an environment that makes them both nervous and edgy. 

When you add the normal stresses of life, we’re left with a confusing, stressful situation that’s very much like an emotional “chess game.” In the typical interaction between a salesperson and a customer, all too frequently there ends up being a winner and a loser, and as a result, no sale. What should start as a potentially enjoyable opportunity for both often ends up with someone cranky about wasting time without a desired result. 

There is an opportunity right in front of them to enjoy the mutual benefits of a salesperson/customer interaction, but that isn’t always successful because they each have different perceptions and concerns, and are unwilling to meet in the middle. They both want to win.   

Customers buy cars, furniture, homes and other items, and in almost every case, they must work with a salesperson, but frankly, they often dislike the interaction. What contributes to this problem is that some salespeople should be in another line of work, as the job just doesn’t suit them. Too many are attracted to the earning potential, but are not a fit for the business. 

On top of all this, most customers have had a bad experience with a salesperson at some point. We assume that the next experience will be just as bad, maybe worse. This will cause many customers to approach salespeople with anxiety, apprehension and nervousness. These anxious customers require a great deal of work to undo that apprehension before salespeople can start the selling process. 

What makes this difficult is that most companies tend to hire extroverted salespeople who often talk too much. As a result, in those first few minutes, some salespeople work too hard trying to prove themselves, which makes working through these negative customer perceptions even harder. This often makes customers shut down and never get to feeling comfortable, causing a blockade with neither relaxing nor getting to know each other. This is one of the reasons why 70% of customers walk out without buying.   

To prove this point, just observe most customers walking in the front door of any RV dealership. The nervous, anxious customers will often go to great lengths to avoid being approached by a salesperson, with that famous line: “I’m just looking,” which is code for “Get away from me.” Others will use evasive tactics, like asking where the restroom is and then taking an alternate route to get into the back lot without working with a salesperson. This happens even when a customer is fully aware they will need a salesperson’s help to find an RV that’s perfect for them.

Customers also demand that their salesperson is honest and trustworthy, as they need their help to select a product that is right for them and their budget. They want someone who has mastered the product information and can demonstrate that to them by showing them what fits their needs. They want the salesperson to move at a pace that is comfortable. 

Building a Good First Impression With Customers 

A good starting point for salespeople is to expect every customer to have some level of anxiety and to have a solid plan in place to address it. More deals are lost in the first five to 15 minutes than most salespeople realize, because the customer never gets a chance to get past their apprehension about them, so comfort, rapport and trust are never established. Salespeople must make the customer’s comfort a priority and not move forward until they have achieved that. 

I’ve talked to more than a few dealerships that have rules requiring that they get the customers’ information to the sales manager’s desk within a set time frame, often 15 to 20 minutes. I strongly disagree with this, as some customers will take longer to alleviate the discomfort they walked in with before the sales process begins. 

It’s in the best interests of the salesperson to master their meet and greet in the initial stages of the customer interaction. Hundreds of observations of salespeople have convinced me that this is the most overlooked part of anything the salesperson does all day, and it repeatedly costs them deals. 

Most of the misconceptions about salespeople that customers walk into a dealership with must be addressed in the first 10 to 15 minutes, so that they can rid themselves of the negative energy created from uncomfortable encounters with previous salespeople. 

Salespeople need to stop and review everything they do in those critical first few minutes with customers. Sharpening skills and refining the steps needed to alleviate customer anxiety will get their customer on the road to the comfort and rapport that can lead to the trust they need to buy two, three or four hours later.