A Damaging Admission...

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A Damaging Admission...

Written by Bernadette Doyle

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Are You Selling to Customers or Clients? | Consultitive Selling Skills

The people we’re doing business with can easily sense if they’re being treated like a client or a customer. If we treat clients -- the people who should have our respect, attention and receive valuable input from us -- as if they’re only “placing orders” through us, we’ll fail as consultative sellers. And ultimately it’s the clients that make us all more successful.

How do you refer to the people you represent? Are they “clients” or “customers”? Or, perhaps you struggle with what you call them, and bounce back and forth from one term to the other, depending on what comes to mind first.

The terms may seem interchangeable, but for those who recognize the subtle distinctions, you may be leaving a wrong impression. This is important to know if you want to be perceived as a consultative seller to others. By not using the correct term in meetings, presentations or even casual conversation, you may be hurting your ability to get ahead with important clients.

I often find myself switching between these two terms, knowing I want all our prospects and clients to perceive me as a consultative partner to them rather than a vendor sales rep, yet uncertain I have “earned the right” to call them clients. But even before we’ve earned the right, don’t we need to act as if we have?

Remember that old adage, “dress for the position you aspire to”? I think this is a similar circumstance. We must not only treat our prospects and clients the way we always expect to treat them, but also speak of them as if they have already achieved that level.

From my perspective a client is a person whose business you have a vested interest in, and for whom you perform as a partner within their business. Not everything you provide is billable. And not every opportunity you are awarded was shopped with the competition for the best price.

You are a respected part of your client’s business. Every time you meet with your client, you bring a new idea. They value your expertise and recommendations, even seeking them out. While you want to be successful yourself, your primary objective is to make their business successful because you know your success stems from their success.

In contrast, customers are people who you help meet a need. They have a problem. You address the problem. You may invest long hours in determining the right solution. They may invest a great deal in purchasing the solution, but they don’t recognize the value of your recommendations. You don’t take time to present new ideas, perform quarterly review meetings, or call them spontaneously.

While you like customers as people, neither of you are investing in a long-term relationship. Customers may deal with a specific seller so long that a friendly relationship is established, but there is rarely a vested interest to the extent that a business partnership is established.

So, which would you rather have: clients or customers? Personally, I’d like every customer to be a client, because it means they respect the full value of what I can bring to them as a consultative seller, and what our organization can provide to their business. I have fun working with clients, and they enjoy working with me. We make each other successful.

The big question is: how do we turn customers into clients?

§ First, we change how we refer to them. They are clients.

§ Next, we examine why we aren’t doing those things for our customers that we do for our clients, like bringing a new idea to every meeting, helping them identify unique ways to address their strategic business objectives, or holding a project review meeting with their staff.

§ Finally, we change. We treat our customers like clients. If they don’t see the value after all our efforts, they may select different vendors. But then, they really weren’t our clients in the first place, were they?

Many savvy marketers have long understood the power of the ‘damaging admission’. The damaging admission is where the seller points out the flaws of what they are offering. Few products, services or offers are perfect and most prospects can’t help but wonder, ‘What’s the hidden catch?’

In the mid eighties, researchers at Cleveland State University made an astonishing discovery.

The researchers created two fictitious job candidates, Dave and John. For each of them they created identical resumes and two almost identical letters of reference. The ONLY difference was that John’s letter included this sentence:

‘Sometimes, John can be a little difficult to get along with.’

The researchers showed the resumes to personnel directors.

Guess which applicant the directors most wanted to interview?

Believe it or not, the answer is JOHN.

The researchers concluded that the criticism of John made the rest of the reference far more believable.

So if you take it upon yourself to let your prospects know up front what the weaknesses or limitations of what you are offering, you accomplish several things.

First, by announcing upfront the limitations of your product service or idea, it stops your prospect from attempting to uncover those limitations for himself.

Secondly, it lends credibility to everything else you have to say about your product or service. After all, if you’re honest enough to admit the weaknesses and flaws of what you’re offering, it stands to reason that all the positive things you have to say are true too.

Finally, it can actually draw your prospects attention. Who can resist paying attention to the sentence that starts, ‘I shouldn’t be telling you this, but….’?

Cosmetics company Lush have long understood the power of the ‘damaging admission’. Next to their product descriptions they include positive and negative comments from customers. Hence a shampoo that features rave reviews from some customers, may also be accompanied by comments from others such as ‘smells like coal tar’. Kind of refutes the idea that the positive testimonials are manufactured doesn’t it?

Here’s another example of a damaging admission, taken from one of my own products: ‘If you’re determined to find a catch, there is one major flaw that you should know about. This programme won’t pick up the phone and make the calls for you! You’ll still have to pick up the phone and dial!’

What stops most people from making the ‘damaging admission’ is that they’re afraid that by showing a weakness they’ll lose the sale. In actual fact, the reverse is true. You’re far more likely to win your customers’ trust and respect if you admit the flaws of what you are offering.

Get Smart | The Sales Store

Bernadette Doyle
		About the author:
		Bernadette Doyle publishes her weekly Client Magnets newsletter for trainers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. .