What Works for You--the Soft or Hard Sell?by Kori Rodley Irons | More from this Blogger 06 Feb 2007 09:08 AM What's your sales style? Have you ever thought through how you feel most comfortable working with customers and whether your style is working for you or not? The traditional terms are "soft" and "hard" sell. The hard sell, of course, being much more assertive and tends to "push" a prospective client toward making purchase. While a soft sell technique is more of a nudging, conversational way of encouraging a prospective customer to buy. What's your style? Unlike some, I'm not assigning a value judgment here to either style of selling. I think there are times and places for both and that it really comes down to what works best for your personality AND what works best with your business and customer base. A really great salesperson is most likely able to adjust his or her sales style and pitch to what a customer needs and responds to and still have it feel natural and comfortable. I once heard a person talk about going to purchase a new refrigerator. He wanted to be sold to. He went to three different stores before someone came up to him within a minute or two and started to direct him toward purchasing a refrigerator. That's the experience he wanted and he was unsatisfied with the more gentle, easing-into-it, sales styles of people in the first two stores. To hear him tell the story, he didn't know anything about refrigerators and he didn't want to waste his time wandering around. He needed to buy one and he wanted to be guided and directed through the process. Other times and with other people, a more gentle, calm, no-hurry approach is best--the soft sell. These instances call for a no-pressure situation and more of a chatty, informational discussion talking over comparisons and finding out more about the prospect and what he or she is looking for. The truth is, either the hard or soft sell can work--it's just a matter of finding out what you're best at and what your industry demands, AND matching your sells technique to the prospective customer. What works best for you? Do you see yourself as more of a "hard sales" or "soft sales" kind of salesperson? See Also: How's Your Energy Level?, How Social Competency Can Help Your Business Learn more about Kori Rodley Irons  Bio has been removed by administrator Relevanthome business tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Discuss this article
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