Through a combination of personal experience and conditioning, we have likely reached this point of being defensive towards selling.
Reaching this point either through our own direct experience or know people who have allowed someone to sell them something which they either didn’t want, didn’t need or it didn’t do what was believed it would do.
The salesperson in these situations has become disconnected from caring that what they are selling is required by the buyer and that the benefit outways the cost. The salesperson has adopted the belief that by selling the product or service that their own life will be better and has become their focus when selling.
Disconnected salespeople often learn and use techniques to further manipulate the thinking and emotions of those they are selling to so they can increase their sales. At some point in the sales process, we surrendered our power to the disconnected salesperson. Later after their sales spell has worn off regret the purchase. Leading us to distrust salespeople and ourselves in making sound decisions when buying.
Mainstream media through their programs, movies, and news constantly help reinforce and normalise the view salespeople are not to be trusted and we, as consumers are powerless against their spell.
As a result, true selling has come to a be casualty.
True selling is simply an energic exchange between two or more people. Where the value that the buyer can derive from the purchase is equal to or greater than the cost of what is being sold and meets the buyer’s needs. The salesperson empowers the potential buyer with product knowledge and experience and answers questions. The salesperson challenges the potential buyer if the product under consideration may not meet their needs.
The empowered buyer then takes everything into consideration and reaches their decision on whether to purchase or not. All of this occurs without the buyer having had their thinking or emotions manipulated by the salesperson. On the contrary, a heartfelt genuine connection is likely to have taken place between the buyer and the seller, and both equally invested in the best outcome for the buyer occurring.
Many buyers have been so conditioned to expect to be manipulated during the sales process. That when they do experience true selling, they feel so uncomfortable and distrusting by not being manipulated that they decide not to make the purchase. Simply because true selling is so alien to them.
This is form of Stockholm syndrome where the captured don’t want to leave their captors. This is not a new phenomenon Plato wrote about it in his Allegory of the Cave. Those who were imprisoned in the cave did not want to believe that there was light outside of the cave and choose to stay in the cave.
If you find yourself in a cave that you’re finding difficult to leave. I offer a free Discovery Call to discuss your challenges and how I can help.