Hard vs. Soft Selling

Jeffrey asked the following question:

“As a Club Manager, how do you teach your Membership Sales Staff the difference between a ‘hard sell’ and a ‘soft sell’?”

This is a very interesting question given the current climate of consumer expectations. On one hand consumers expect more for their money; on the other hand consumers belief in getting “good customer service” is almost non-existent, with the number of consumer complaints at an all time high. Let’s face it, whether it’s the endless loop of pre-recorded phone messages that don’t allow you to talk to a human being or the inability to find an associate while shopping in a store, as a consumer it can be pretty frustrating when you’re trying to buy something.

Of course, not being able to talk to someone is different than dealing with some slick, fast talking salesperson that has come out of the “Tin Men” mold. (If you never saw this hilarious movie with, if I remember correctly, Danny DiVito you should.) Today’s consumer won’t put up with “What’s it going to take to get you into this car today” statements.

So, first, what is the difference between a hard sell and a soft sell? In order to answer that let me go into the archives of my law school days and utilize a quote by Supreme Court Justice Stewart in 1964 when trying to define obscenity said, “It’s like pornography; I can’t define it but I’ll know it when I see it.”

I know, I know, more of my smart a$$ humor but it really is a perfect quote for a couple of reasons. For one, what is a hard sell to one person may be seen as good salesmanship to another. For another, each person’s experience with a salesperson will be based on their perception of the situation in context.

Because perception is reality to the customer, your top salesperson may endear themselves to many but piss off a few in the process. On the other extreme you may have a salesperson that everyone loves but can’t sell a thirsty person a glass of water at a discount. So, instead of saying “this is hard selling” and “this is soft selling,” (because I don’t think either is accurate), let’s talk about approaches.

For me the right selling approach is what I refer to as “pull selling,” versus push selling. Nobody likes to be pushed into buying something. You want to feel as though you made the decision and it was of your own free will. And this is what I mean by “pull selling.” You actually pull the customer in your direction, NOT push them. This takes a special kind of leadership.

The only way you can lead an individual to want to buy is by asking them questions. Lots and lots of questions because when someone answers a question they are basically selling themselves. Where most salespeople get into trouble in their presentations and come across as pushy is when they begin to “tell” the customer, “This is what you want in this product,” or “You should buy this one because,” etc.

By taking the time to ask the customer lots and lots of questions, the customer almost leads themselves to the right buying decision. Where salespeople have a hard time is in conditioning themselves to ask questions throughout the sales process—not just in the qualifying stage. In fact, a good salesperson will have pre-designed questions in all the following stages:

Pre-Qualifying
Qualifying
Touring
Membership Presentation
Overcoming objections

If you came into this industry like most salespeople—i.e. without any formal training—take some time now to sit down and write out all the questions you can ask a prospect during your time together. If you train yourself to stop telling and start asking effective, empowering questions, pretty soon you will have a fabulous closing percentage without the need for any “hard” selling techniques along the way.

Let me close by saying this, “If you have to close hard, you haven’t done your job up front.” You are in the profession of helping people realize that they need to modify their lifestyle so they can enjoy the many benefits of regular exercise; if you approach each sale with the goal of motivating someone to want to exercise for their reasons, not yours, you will rarely come across as a pushy salesperson.

In good health, Casey