Last summer, I had the opportunity to work as a sales associate at a large retailer. During my training phase, I was taught in depth on how to present an effective sales pitch to a potential customer. This meant communicating only the truths pertaining to the product, and also in regards to the warranty packages that we try to sell as well. The overall goal was to achieve an honest reputation of a retailer in the eyes of customers. Despite this, the company was infamously known to have employees that use cunning tactics in order to make their product and/or warranty more appealing to the customer. It is clear that these employees who do not follow the expected communication procedures may end up damaging the company’s reputation. Why is this the case?
In sales, effective communication is everything. According to Stuart Leung, editor of SalesForce, the goal of a sales pitch is to be able to accurately present information on a product/service, “address[ing] potential sales objections that may come up” (1). However, barriers to communication, which are displayed on a regular basis in retail environments, are the obvious antithesis to that. The most popular ones being used in creating sales pitches include filtering, in where the salesperson will highlight the pros of the product while neglecting the cons, and lying, or sometimes stretching the truth in order to make something appear better than they are not.
While these barriers are often explained in regards to internal communication within a company, it is evident that these can be detrimental in a retail setting. In my experience, I have seen countless product returns and negative reviews of our business. This is because the customer would have found out at some point that the salesperson assisting them with the product exhibited one of these barriers to communication, and did not end up purchasing the product that was advertised to them.
Conclusively, for businesses to maintain an honest reputation, they have to go beyond just training their staff to practice effective communication. Businesses, such as the one in context, have to be able to maintain these expectations in communication by monitoring staff more closely and letting staff know that exhibiting these barriers cannot be tolerated.
- “How to Make a Good Sales Pitch in 7 Steps.” Salesforce Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.