Don't make random promises to customers. Especially during information gathering, township store owners may ask about cooperation and payment terms, request stocking, or ask about terminal support, such as providing counters or creating terminal displays and planning promotional activities. Since this is only preliminary customer information collection and you can't be sure if they will be final cooperative customers, you must not easily make promises for such requests. When we were training our first batch of salespeople, we made this mistake of making casual promises: a township customer, who had previously cooperated with us, though with small sales, had monthly sales. When the first batch of salespeople went to collect information, the customer asked if we could help plan a promotional activity. Because we usually plan opening activities for new customers, several new salespeople agreed. But when they came back and checked, there was a conflict with the date of an opening activity we had planned earlier, and we had made a budget with the distributor. The township was relatively small, so it wasn't suitable to plan an activity at that time; it would be better to plan when we do joint activities in several townships. But when we explained to the customer, he thought we were looking down on his small volume and were afraid of trouble. Another time, a township customer asked if we could provide two sections of display counters for his store. For township customers, there is a counter usage agreement, but the salesperson didn't remember the details clearly and didn't explain them to the customer, leading to a wrong assessment of the customer's intention. A customer that could have been chosen had to be abandoned. After these incidents, we required our salespeople: during initial information collection, if you don't know how to explain a problem, even if you have to call the customer back after returning, don't make promises at the customer's place.
Don't bluff or deceive customers. The industry is changing rapidly. As a salesperson, you must know more than the customer, be more professional, and understand more industry information, so you can guide the customer's thinking when chatting. For some questions, if you know, you know; if you don't, it's best not to pretend to know. Remember, don't bluff or deceive customers when you don't know. We have a customer with whom we have a good relationship. Because we did an activity at his store for the first time, and there were some details we couldn't agree on during the activity, we were very tired, and he gave us a hard time, so we nicknamed him "Zhou Papi" (a ruthless landlord). Once, I went with a colleague to visit him, and we talked about when to replace the exterior building stickers. He said he didn't charge us for the stickers; in the city's supermarkets, they charge for such stickers (he is a county town supermarket). My colleague quickly replied, "No charge? We didn't pay for the stickers we put there." "Zhou Papi" immediately widened his eyes and said loudly, "No charge? How can it be no charge? I've been running a supermarket here for over 10 years. I know better than you." He turned to me and said, "You say, do we need to pay?" I nodded and said yes, and only then did he lower his voice, but he kept criticizing my colleague for bluffing him. Because the relationship was good, he finally joked with us, saying, "I'm not 'Zhou Papi'; they (the city supermarkets) are the real 'Zhou Papi'. They are like geese that pluck feathers from everything." Another time, we needed to replace the pillar displays. The agreed material was lightbox film, but the advertising company made a mistake and made it with adhesive vinyl. Redoing it would take a few more days. The salesperson in charge wanted to coax "Zhou Papi" into putting it up. "Zhou Papi" took the material, looked at it, and said, "Is this lightbox film? Do you think I'm a fool? If you want to replace (the display), use lightbox film. If you use other materials, I'll let other manufacturers do the displays here." The salesperson responsible for replacing the material came back and told us that "Zhou Papi" repeatedly told him that it was only because we worked hard that he didn't make a fuss. If it were other manufacturers who dared to blatantly bluff him like that, and even twice, he would have already asked the distributor to replace the salesperson responsible for his area.
Don't disparage other brands in the store, even if the brand really has some problems. A while ago, when collecting information in a county, several township store owners reported that **brand had a batch of quality problems recently, and for townships, there was no effective solution.
When you go to a customer, if the customer doesn't mention such information, it's best not to bring it up proactively. If the customer starts complaining about the brand, you can agree with a few words, but it's best not to express too many personal opinions. For such information, experienced salespeople might successfully use it to develop customers, but for junior salespeople, when using it, you must grasp the scale. After getting this information, we instructed the salespeople developing customers not to make too many comments. But during a township customer development, one of our salespeople still made a mistake: while chatting with the boss about the brands in the store, he inadvertently revealed this information and asked the boss about his views and plans for the future. And this store had been mainly promoting this brand. Although the boss admitted that he was currently troubled by after-sales issues, he still reluctantly told the salesperson that any brand could have problems, and he had been selling this brand well, so he would keep it. Fortunately, this salesperson was quick-witted and immediately changed the topic, telling the boss how to handle after-sales issues to make customers more accepting. Finally, when he left, the boss patted him on the shoulder and said, "Young man, if you were like the salespeople of **brand or **brand, who come to my store and first loudly publicize the batch quality problems of **brand, and then boast about how good their products are, I wouldn't have talked with you for so long."
Be neither humble nor pushy; stand on an equal footing with the store owner. There are too many salespeople developing customers now, and some township customers are particularly "arrogant." When salespeople visit, they are impatient and just chat a few words. Some customers even change things that were agreed upon at any time. At this time, salespeople must communicate with customers from an equal position to solve problems. The more you compromise and show weakness, the less the customer will take you seriously.
Don't disturb the boss when he is busy. We all know that when a store owner is receiving customers, you shouldn't disturb them. If you can help with something, that's even better. Sometimes when we go to townships, we always remind them: if you arrive at a township around noon, it's best to visit customers after 12:00 or 12:30, because even if you don't eat, the customer has to eat. If they don't receive you, it's not good; if they receive you, it's inconvenient to eat. Either way is awkward.
Of course, when visiting, you should also pay attention to other details, such as a boss's conversation habits or nap time. These need to be observed and accumulated in future work.
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