In his column in USA Today, Steve Strauss posted this in answer to a question he received. He listed these five reasons reasons why the hard sell is a very shortsighted strategy. Consider all of the downsides to the hard sell:
•Poorer quality sales: When you force someone into buying something they may not really want, what you are really doing is setting the business up for failure. What the company is left with then is a faux-sale and a disgruntled customer.
•Disgruntled customers: Indeed, this is potentially an even worse problem. Customers who get products or services crammed down their throat don’t usually stay customers for long. Feeling used and abused, they rightfully take their money elsewhere.
•Unhappy employees: The parade of bad outcomes keeps on coming. Aside from fake sales and unhappy customers, forcing the hard sell strategy on your staff often leads to low morale and high turnover. People will only work in a high-pressure sales environment because they really need the job, they like the money or they thrive under pressure’
Most people however, when forced to sell something they do not believe in, or sell something to people who are only marginally interested, will look for a new job that is not so morally compromising.
•Bad morale: Between the high turnover rate, and selling stuff in questionable ways, the overall staff mood at the hard-sell workplace is typically very poor. Employees in such places don’t believe in the company or the product and they often conspire against management, whom they perceive to be the enemy. This all in turn creates:
•A bad brand: It is hard to create a positive brand and stellar reputation when your employees don’t like you and your customers resent you.
So please, do yourself a favor and avoid the hard sell.
For the complete article, please go to Strategies: Do us a favor and avoid the hard sell, it’s bad for business.
