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The Hard or the Soft Sell?

8 August, 2007 - General Business - 2 Comments

When selling a product, whether it be face to face, over the phone, or via the Internet, there are two clear cut methods of closing the deal.

There is the hard sell, and there is the soft sell. There doesn’t appear to be any concise answer as to what each method involves, so I’m going to set out and try to define what each method means to me.

The Hard Sell

The hard sell is usually the method you get from a telemarketer. You can’t get a word in edgeways until the telemarketer has finished talking all kinds of bull about their product. They give facts and they use buzz words. They don’t tell you the price until the very end of your speech. That’s when they have all the ‘amazing facts’ about the product running around your head (at least that’s how it’s supposed to work). You’re usually presented with a contract and a cheap pen and told to “Sign now and save 10%!”.

That’s the hard sell, at least from my own experience. The end result of a hard sell is either a closed deal from a customer who just got trapped like a mouse (this is sure to end up with an unhappy customer some time down the line), or a smart customer who refuses, but is still very annoyed at your distasteful sale tactics.

The Soft Sell

The soft sell is much more relaxed. The customer is able to speak and express their concerns. The sales person addresses those concerns and openly admits when he or she is unable to address a concern at that time (if face to face, there is usually a promise to go back to the office and address the concern). The sales person will make sure he or she is very clear about the customers needs, and then the customer will be shown how X product can meet their needs, and give a good return on investment. A contract may be presented for signing, but only if the prospect shows a real sign they are interested in becoming a customer.

The end result of a soft sell is either no new customer but a happy prospect (treating people like humans tends to make them happy) or a new customer who don’t feel trapped, but instead feels like they made a good decision by choosing your product to meet their needs.

Personally, I always go for the soft sell. I was undecided as to which method to go with until early last year. In March 2006, a customer decided we weren’t the right company to develop their new Web site. I had been working with this customer for a full 12 months, trying to get the contract (I was competing against four other companies). Eventually, we lose the race because we weren’t located in the right place for them (Our design team are spread around the world but they insisted on speaking face to face with the team on a regular basis).

After they gave us their decision to take us out of the ‘race’, we set up a quick feedback form and asked them for their feedback based on their dealings with us over the last 12 months. We excelled in absolutely everything. Had our team all been located in one location close to them, we would have won the contract without a second thought.

One of the key things that was pointed out was my approach to the sale. They were very impressed with my soft sell approach. They found me each to approach, and easy to come to for advice (in fact, they approached me several times after they had put us out of the race to see if what they other design companies were telling them actually made any sense). It was at that moment that I decided the soft sell, where I acted like a human and treated the prospect like a human, was by far the best method to sale my product.

Which method do you use and have most success with? As a customer, which method do you prefer? Let us know!

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Posted on 8 August, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under General Business |

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2 Comments»

Comment by Jason

2007-08-09 15:57:42

The most effective method is combining both. Knowing what you customer is thinking and building rapport is key.

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Pingback by Building Alliances Between Your Customers that Bring You Business - Zoomstart

2007-08-21 08:14:23

[...] to do is jump into the middle and try to run your customer’s business for them. Don’t push your deal ideas on them. Introduce opportunities by making sure that you introduce as many people to each [...]

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