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Customers Are Allies, Not Opponents

By: Hasan Luongo

Courtesy Of: E-Myth

05. Jun. 2008

There's something inside-out about the way most business people think about the selling process. They all say, "We're customer focused," or "the customer comes first," or "customer satisfaction is our goal." But it's the exception, not the rule, when they really act like they believe it. Watch what they do (and maybe what you do) and you can see how backwards it is. They may not realize it, and no one would admit to it if they did, but most people in business see their customers as opponents to be overcome instead of allies to be helped.

Allies? Yes. An ally is someone who cooperates with you to achieve a common purpose. And that's exactly what a customer is. Customers are, by nature, allies who want to buy the products and services you want to sell. But today's high-pressure world has made many of them reluctant skeptics who are wary of being persuaded or even tricked into making a purchase. The sales practices of most businesses have warped their customers' basic hopeful nature into something suspicious, resistant, and sometimes even fearful.

What are these sales practices? They have names like "creating a need," "overcoming objections," and "closing the sale." And they are all born of the belief that customers aren't cooperative and that it's the salesperson's task to "get" the sale.

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