The world’s dumbest sales mistake

As I am a teller at a financial institution constantly encouraged to promote VISA’s and traveller’s insurance, I definitely understand the pressures that come from making “sales”. Natural instinct as it is, I was automatically attracted to the headline: “The World’s Dumbest Sales Mistake“. Before the overload of technological innovation, the most common mistakes were as follows:

-Obvious sales person attire
-“The salesman voice” (overly excited, high pitched, enthusiastic)

But now, with internet, the new way to approach a customer is via email. Of course, this avoids face to face communication, which hinders the automatic shutdown and avoidance from customers; however email etiquette should now be put into prospective.

 

“…the dumbest thing that you can do today is to try to communicate to prospective customers using “salesy” language.”

Apparently, to my dismay, I am a user of such “mistakes”:

  • “Thank you for your interest in our product!”
  • “We guarantee customer satisfaction.”
  • “If you need further information, do not hesitate to call.”

Now, after reading this article, I am left confused. How am I supposed to interact with consumers etc… professionally while utilizing the suggested “write like you’re talking to your pals” rule?

On the other hand, I can see why workplace culture is important to the success of a company. Companies such as Lululemon and Zappos use informal interactions with their consumers in order to stimulate loyalty and promote their business. By using less professional approaches such as off-topic and lengthy phone calls, as well as offering yoga classes and quirky window displays, you create more of a personal touch to your “professional” interactions, and thus making you appear more of a person than a typical sales person hunting for profit. While this is harder with email, learning to balance professionalism and “being a real person” is a good skill to keep in practice!

 

References:

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-worlds-dumbest-sales-mistake.html
http://images.quickblogcast.com/4/3/9/5/9/238726-295934/usedcarNixonposter.jpg?a=56

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