Requests and Recommendations

When you are in the business of sales, there is always a moment when you want to ask for a favor.

I want you to buy this property.
I would like to put this contract together.
I want you to take care of this project.

These feelings come naturally as we work daily as salespeople.
The more time I have spent preparing, researching, and assembling a proposal for a project, the stronger that feeling becomes.

The more we make a proposal that we believe is a good choice for the customer, the more strongly we want them to proceed.

It is not a bad thing to feel that way when you are in the position of sales.
In fact, I think it is evidence that they are serious about their work.

However, I do not believe in "asking" in sales.

This is not a mentality, but a conviction that I have felt over the course of my long career in this business.

Sales is a job that deals with products, but it is also a job that deals with "judgment" at the same time.
Because we are involved in a customer's major decision, I feel that our sales attitude and the way we choose our words have a much greater impact than we can imagine.

■The moment you ask for a favor, the sales force is down the road.

When you are in sales, you may be on the verge of a contract.
One more step and it will be established.
In such situations, there is a word that I just want to say.

We would love to have you."
Could you please consider it somehow?"

At first glance, this language sounds humble and polite.
In fact, it is also the correct expression of courtesy.

But I believe that at this moment, the sales person stands below the customer.

If the sales person makes a request, the transaction becomes a "request" rather than a "proposal.

Proposals are inherently made in a relationship of equals.
It is the act of presenting an option that is of value to the customer and leaving the decision to them.

But the moment the word please entered the picture,
The sales person is "the one who gets the contract",
The customer is "the one who makes the deal."
The composition of the two will be

Frankly, I can understand how a sales person might say that.

Furthermore, this composition also affects the psychology of the salespeople themselves.
In the state of asking, it is more difficult to make calm decisions, and it is easier to bias one's thinking in favor of the contract.

And the moment it became a request,
The customer is not "in a position to make a decision",
It turns into a "position of being asked to do something."

This relationship may appear to be established on the surface, but it does not lead to long-lasting trust.

■Asking for favors sometimes erodes trust.

When a sales person makes a request, there is always "convenience on the part of the sales person" showing through.

Maybe they want to achieve this month's numbers.
Maybe we need a contract as a company.
They may have a strong desire to get a deal done.

Of course, they exist as a matter of course as work.
As a sales professional, it is only natural that you are expected to deliver results.

But that is not what is important to the customer.

The customer wants to know,
Is this proposal really the right choice for me?"
This is just one point.

The moment I saw the sales situation,
The purity of the proposal will be reduced.

Is the proposal "for the customer"?
Is it "for sales?"
This is because the boundaries between them are blurred.

And the lower the purity, the less trust there is.

Trust is a very delicate thing.
Once lost, it takes a long time to regain it.

That is why I am especially cautious when it comes to the word "please.

■Sales is not a job of asking for favors, but of making recommendations

I do not mean sales as a job of asking for a favor,
I consider it "the job of making recommendations."

Recommendation here does not mean simply recommending a product.

To present options that are truly valuable to the person.
And to communicate that judgment correctly.

With real estate, it's not just about yield and price,
Future repair risk, area characteristics, exit strategy, financial planning, etc,
Proposals must be assembled from multiple perspectives.

We then organize them in a way that even those without expertise can understand,
We believe it is important to create an environment where people can make decisions with a sense of conviction.

If you have a really good proposal,
There is no need for the sales person to make a request.

Because the customers themselves will decide that they need it.

■ Recommendations require preparedness.

However, be prepared for salespeople to make recommendations.

Prepared to think about whether it is really right for the customer.
Be prepared to communicate the disadvantages as well as the advantages.
In some cases, he is prepared to say, "You should not do it this time.

The word "recommended" appears to be a positive word at first glance.
But a true recommendation is not necessarily one that leads to a contract.

I have told clients in the past, "I think you should not buy this property.

At the time, I wondered if that decision was correct as a sales person.
There was of course the possibility of losing the contract, and there was also the possibility that I had made the wrong decision.

However, as a result, the client purchased another property a few months later,
He consulted me again.

There is a word that was said to me at that time.

I felt like they were thinking about me, not trying to sell me something."

When I received these words,
The most important thing for sales is not the number of contracts,
I realized again that it is a relationship of trust.

And that experience also changed my view of sales.

Sales that can be recommended are those that do not run away.

Making recommendations means taking responsibility.

Why do you think it is good?
What risks are involved?
What are the possibilities for the future?

We need to explain them and continue to present them with the information they need to make a decision.

Now that you have made a proposal, you need to have a rationale for your proposal.
We also have a responsibility to make sure that our customers understand the rationale behind this.

The sales person making the request is,
At times, we leave too much of the decision-making to the customer.

However, salespeople who make recommendations are different.
We take responsibility for our proposals.

Do not run away, keep explaining,
Facing the question,
At times, they are also close to the anxiety.

I feel that such accumulation is what builds trust as a sales person.

■The form of sales we value

At our company, we are not in the "selling business".
We place importance on "proposal-based sales.

If only to increase contracts,
There may be situations where it is faster to ask for a favor.

If only numbers are followed, short-term results may be achieved.

But that is not a long-lasting form of work.

Make proposals that are necessary for the customer.
If it is not necessary, I would not recommend it by force.
And we only recommend what we think is really worth it.

Maintaining this attitude is never easy.
However, we believe that it is the accumulation of these efforts that builds our credibility as a company.

And we believe that this trust will result in the growth of the company.

■Finally.

Sales is a people-to-people business.

That's why it's not a matter of position up or down,
I believe it is important to face them as equals.

Not salespeople who ask for favors,
I want to be a sales person who can make recommendations with confidence.

And for the customer,
Not a "sold deal."
We want to continue to offer "transactions that we have chosen with conviction."

Sales is not a job of getting contracts,
We are involved in our clients' life choices.

Remember that responsibility,
I would like to continue to face each proposal one by one.

That is the form of sales we are striving for.