I was in the hair salon yesterday and I overheard another customer talking with her stylist. (I wasn’t REALLY eavesdropping, there simply was nothing else going at the time.) The stylist asked her what she was looking for to make her style perfect. The woman began to explain about the length and cut and mentioned the color blend she had received the last visit. The stylist exclaimed, “oh yes yes, I know just what to do. I got it.” I thought to myself, wow, they must have a great relationship (and a fair amount of trust between them) to be able to have ‘perfect’ in such a short conversation.
The customer went on to get clipped and colored and steamed and washed and right before she was presented with mirror, the stylist (and I, ok now I was being nosy) noticed the woman’s look of horror. The stylist said nervously, “oh…I…I mixed your colors with a little more brown. Last time we had too much red, right?” The woman swallowed and replied, “well it was the red that I really liked, and the brown that I wanted less of.” OH NO!! A qualifying fail!
I could SO relate to that stylist and I felt for her, and for her customer. I thought back to the number one rule of selling, “find out what the customer wants and sell them that” and reflected on all the times I’ve mixed up the what I thought was the perfect solutions for someone based on what I thought they wanted. It’s so easy in sales to think you have asked the right questions, to think you know exactly the right product or service or event to present to your customer, when really, you’ve just got to slow down…ask more, powerful questions…and find out what they really want to make their experience perfect. They’ll tell you every time.
In our business, we need to ask those important qualifying questions like: if your event (or party or experience) were perfect, what would it look like? What have you done in the past? What did you like about it? What do you wish you’d had more of? What could have been different? What would like you to have happen at an event like this? These are amazing questions that will tell you what it will take to color their event perfect! You’ll find out not only what kind of activities they’ll most likely like, but where they’ve gone and who might be competing for their business, but you will also get you an idea about their previous budget. And asking about what they hope to achieve, well that little gem will give you an idea of what will motivates them to buy! Bottom line, you’ll get everything you need to know to be able to present the perfect event they’re dying to book.
I have to stop and tell myself so often, that I have to remember to listen twice as much as I speak. If we do that, and we take the time to ask some of those powerful qualifying questions, we will find out that perfect blend of service, food and fun to make our customers’ experiences picture perfect.
Click here and tell us about a time you had a really bad dye job….or any experience you have had when a sales person that didn’t qualify you.
