While Every Customer Is Unique Obstacles To Sales Are The Same
Author, salesman and motivational speaker, Hilary Hinton Ziglar, who was known as Zig Ziglar was famously quoted for “Every Sale has Five Main Obstacles: No Need, No Money, No Hurry, No Desire, No Trust”. No wonder every customer is unique and requires a unique way to provide eye care and an exceptional understanding of the experiences that help us design and map our customer journey that will lead to higher sales, the obstacles to sales are the same and what Zig Ziglar points too applies in eye care the same way it applies to any other profession. The five obstacles to sales “No Need, No Money, No Hurry, No Desire, and No Trust” can be compared in eye care to five obstacles to satisfying a patient through a successful sale that includes customer values, the bargain, decision-making, loyalty, and integrity.
The first obstacle to sales in eye care is understanding customer values. Don’t be led to believe that every customer values affordable products. You may be surprised when you know that trying to sell affordable sunglasses or eyeglasses to customers who value designer eyeglasses may insult some buyers. Know what your practice stands for, position yourself where your products and services align with your strategy and listen to what your patients need in order to effectively communicate your practice’s values and quality of care.
The second obstacle is money and bargaining. All prices should be explicitly disclosed and you should talk and be able to explain to your patient about what makes and constitutes the price of each product or service. Promotions, discounts, and special offers should be presented with details about the event, the deadline, the range of products, included services, and the possibility of being bundled with other offers.
The third obstacle is knowing who is the decision-maker a how to persuade him. In a previous post entitled Understanding Patient Insights, we emphasized the importance of knowing and identifying the three roles that a patient may have for every product, service, and transaction (user, buyer, payer). The value sought by each patient’s role can be different. The user values the performance, the buyer values the service, and the payer values the price. Knowing who the buyer is the key to knowing how decision-making is being done.
The fourth obstacle is loyalty. How can a patient be loyal without desiring the services, solutions, and products you provide? At this stage, you should be able to identify and distinguish between true loyalty and false loyalty as well as make sure not to retain chronically unhappy customers.
The fifth obstacle is integrity. How can someone higher your expertise or buy a product that he cannot trust? Trust is an integral part of your practice in building successful relationships with customers and your people too.