BrainTrust Query: How to Deal With Survivor Guilt in Your Salesperson
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail Doc blog.
I received this email. "Bob, my staff is going through your Sales Rx training. During one of the training sessions, we revealed a barrier that we need to address -- guilt -- of all things! As we discussed barriers, one employee admitted that she sometimes feels guilty selling high-end items when she doesn't think the customer can afford it. Yikes!!"
Traditionally, "survivor guilt" is the term used to describe the feelings of those who, fortunately, emerge from a disaster that mortally engulfs others. It could be as a result of an airplane crash like Nando Prado in the Andes, a downsizing of a company like GM or even the closing of a competitor on Main Street.
This business owner is from Michigan where The Associated Press recently reported unemployment rates ranged from a low of 10.6 percent in Ann Arbor to a high of 17.4 percent in Flint. Of course people are scared.
Survivor's guilt plays out by projecting our worries onto our customers. It's like the salesperson adopts a loser's limp. On an irrational level, these individuals wince at their privileged escape from death's clutches or worry they are next. The most insidious impact is on their self-image.
Do you remember the film "Ruthless People" where Judge Reinhold was trying to take advantage of a customer? He reneges when he sees the guy's wife is pregnant. He felt sales was a win-lose situation; that he was getting a whole pile of money for the little value customers received. It is a common trait in retail if we were all to be honest, but even more so in places like Michigan and Vegas.
The heart of the problem is how they feel like a sham selling at retail. Clerking is what they are comfortable with because their self-image doesn't allow them to put themselves out there to risk rejection.
Your opportunity is to show how selling is a win-win situation -- that we are helping the customer buy what they already want. But you're not manipulating people, taking advantage or making them into some kind of sucker for purchasing the premium items -- that we are all grownups and no one knows what another can afford. Maybe they've switched to generics in all of their grocery staples to afford the $100 LEGO Death Star for their daughter's birthday. There's no way of knowing.
You need to show them how their own preconceived ideas, biases and fears could very easily be pouring a bucket of water on a customer's interest in the higher-priced items and causing the customer to question the purchase.
If they can't get past this, you have to ask yourself, "How much do I want to be their psychologist and deal with their self image?" and "Is there anybody else out there who can help me sell at a profit?" If not, it may be time to move on without them.