Selling on trust and expertise
I recently adopted a dog which made me question my choice of flooring at home and I’ve decided that I was going to replace my carpet with wood.
I called the same person that installed the carpet I currently have 10 years ago. The same person also installed the tile floors that I have in my kitchen and my bathrooms three years ago.
When he got here, we chit-chatted a little bit…how are you, I’m fine, thanks…how’s business? He said he was glad I called, things have been really slow for him. He mentioned that he had to let go of three of his project teams (he used to have five) because business has been bad.
I told him that I was thinking about replacing my carpet with wood. He then started shaking his head.
“What about your kids,” he asked. Ok, so what about them?
“Yeah, the carpet is dirty but why don’t you just get it cleaned?”
And? Are you selling carpet cleaning services now? I thought to myself.
“If your kids run around and they fall, they’d get hurt more on wood floor than on carpet.”
I was a bit confused, then amazed. Here was a man who was hurting for business, and he was discouraging me from buying from him because he was concerned about my kids getting hurt. Heck. I’m surprised he even remembered that I had kids!
I explained about the dog, then I reassured him that my kids don’t quite run around as much as he remembered the last time he did some work in my house.
I was going to shop around for a better deal, I even planned on asking him for his “best price.” But at that point, I trusted that he was going to give me a fair deal. Heck. He was ready to walk away from my place without a sale.
He said he’s sure that my selection was in stock and that he can get my new floor installed before the week is over.
I’m really excited to be doing business with him again. I know he would do a good job as he did twice previously, and I also trust that he has my best interest in mind.
In the staffing industry there are firms who feel they need to sell on offering the lowest mark-up. But it feels much better to sell based on trust and expertise. The buyer or end user is happy to do business with someone they trust will deliver the best service at a reasonable price as opposed to being forced to buy from the cheapest. The staffing firm is not constantly on edge about having to cut-corners just to remain competitive on pricing, which in turn, allows them to focus more on quality.
Great post! I was at the SI Exec Forum last week, and one of the speakers mentioned that trust is most effectively built by the questions you ask, not the answers you give.
I’ve been called on by a number of local staffing firms and recruiters lately, and the opening question is always some variation of “do you have any hiring needs?” Why don’t they do 15 minutes research to come up with a great question that will demonstrate their knowledge of the types of staffing issues they know a business like mine will have?
Do you have great questions you like to ask?
Hi, David!
I have some friends who find themselves on the other side of that call and they tell me that whenever they receive these types of cold calls, for the nth time in a day, they feel like saying “oh…yes! I **do** have hiring needs and I’ve been waiting just for someone like you to call me and ask me that!” I mean…really…what were they supposed to say?
Even worse, sometimes, is that I personally get these cold calls as well from other staffing firms who probably saw my LinkedIn profile, saw the word “manager,” didn’t bother to research at all or otherwise a 2-second Google search would have told them that I worked for a staffing firm as well. What that tells me is this person was going through a call list and just playing with numbers. They have no idea what I needed or what I might need.
We have a pretty seasoned staff where I work. I notice that questions aren’t always geared towards getting an order, but more on what they can do for their potential client at the moment, whether that be a requisition to fill or maybe a resume they’d like to pass along because they themselves are probably going to be looking soon. In our business, one or two orders here and there don’t make you successful. Long lasting business partnerships based on trust makes a big difference.
[...] same person that has done two other jobs for me in the last 10 years. He was hurting for business. I was happy to give it to him and since I know a few people who were itching to spend their tax refund, I figured I’d refer [...]