Your Competitive Advantage

Your Competitive Advantage

Everybody claims to be an advisor and to offer financial advice. Apparently everyone works for the best company. All say they have the most competitive products and the best prices. Is it true? Is it even possible? No and no!

All financial institutions work within the same global economy and the same financial constrains or conditions. All are faced with the same actuarial realities, similar expenses and the usual profit margins.

All customers expect similar services from a financial services provider; quality products, fair or sometimes cheaper products and reasonable service time frames. Indeed the customer’s expectations are going up and the customer is becoming more informed, day-by-day of their choices.

So how do customers decide whom to meet with, listen to and buy from? The customers are inundated with phone calls, text messages, mail, e-mail, flyers, posters and billboards about how one company is better than another. How do they decide?

How does a company or an individual salesperson* differentiate themselves from their competitors? If all offer similar products, services and pricing how do they decide? It cannot be just the glossy company brochures or the ‘slick’ TV ads.

I believe the fundamental difference and one that the customer readily sees, understands and most importantly, values, is how the representatives of that company behaves.

If all salespersons talk too much and listen too little, care too little about the customer and are only interested in making a sale, then the person who does the opposite should stand out and be noticeable, correct? I believe successful people behave differently, not similarly.

So, how do you stand out? If I were to ask your customers what they felt about you, what would they say? Would they say you were different from all the other salespeople. Or are you just like them. Usually when they say you are just like them, it is not a compliment! So how do you differentiate yourself from the pack?

Here are some simple philosophies and rules that I honor and respect. For I am a customer as well! But, more importantly, thousands of customers agree with these statements.

1. People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care!

2. Customers are not always right, but they are always the customer, therefore they deserve your respect.

3. Let deeds not words be your adorning.

Let’s take a few moments to examine these three statements.

People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care! You might be asking yourself why is this important? Well, when people are buying financial services and products they want and need to be able to trust the salesperson and therefore, trust the company. That trust begins in your statements but are reinforced (or not) by your behaviours. Nothing angers customers more quickly than to deal with salespeople that, by their behaviours, don’t care about them. How do we show we don’t care? By not listening to the customer and therefore not showing them the respect they deserve. They expect you to know about your products and services, but more importantly they want you to understand their situation and care about solving any gaps in their planning. There is a great movie about caring called Jerry McGuire with Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. In the movie Tom is a sports promoter and he is making all sorts of promises to Cuba, who is a rising star athlete. After Tom has finished making his promises, Cuba says, stop making promises just ‘show me the money!’ This is a ‘turning point’ in the movie and is very relevant to establishing a competitive advantage. The customers desire and need you to show them the money … show them you care!

The customer is not always right but they are always the customer, they deserve your respect. Selling is not always easy. Often we need to convince the customer to do the right thing for themselves and their family. Often we need to lead them in a direction or down a path they do not want to walk. We need to encourage them to take action, when they would rather not. Sometimes our advice contradicts what the customer may want. If our advice is correct and if it is based on solid fact finding, then we should not feel badly that the customers took action when initially they were reluctant to do so. The more important question to ask ourselves is did we, while we were doing our jobs, give the customers dignity and treat them with respect. Did we listen, were we patient and did we offer choices? Never get into an argument with the customer. Demonstrate your patience by listening, giving them choices and negotiating with them. They will respect you for it! Their future will be more secure because you did your job!

Let deeds not words be your adorning. Customers are getting really tired of unfulfilled promises. Often salespeople make promises that they have no possibility or intention of delivering upon. Customers process and make decisions primarily or the behaviours they see, rather than only on the promises they hear. We all process information in three ways: visually, auditorally and kinesthetically. Meaning by what we see, we hear and we do. The startling statistic is that 70% of what we learn and process, we process visually. The remaining 30% of processing is split evenly between what we hear and do. Therefore it only makes sense we should listen more to the customers and show them information and concepts graphically and artistically. We should also involve them in our sales and decision process. They want to participate in their futures and they are waiting for you to allow them to do so. Behaviours count more than we admit.

So where is our competitive advantage? First, we must not behave like everyone else, if that behavior is unacceptable to the customer! Successful people behave differently, not similarly. They care more, they listen more and they fully involve the customer in the sales process. They lead with their hearts, for they honestly and sincerely care about the customer. And you know what, you are a customer as well!

When customers deal with a salesperson who really understands them, they buy from that salesperson often and refer the salesperson to others. That is the competitive advantage. You cannot care too much! Just like you cannot love too much. If you want to have a competitive advantage, don’t be afraid to care about the customer. The customer is the reason you have a job, correct?

Good luck,
James M Heidema

About Author

James M Heidema has been in the sales, management and leadership training field for over 20 years, with the majority of this time with London Life. Jim's corporation (Professional Sales Plus, Inc.) is in its sixth year of business. It provides training, coaching, facilitation and consultation for large and medium-sized corporations in Canada and throughout the world. Jim is also a multiple best selling author of The Passionate Manager and The Passionate Agent. (http://professionalsalesplus.com)

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