Some salespeople are afraid of customer problems. They shouldn’t be. They think a problem demonstrates their failure. That’s not how they should see a problem. It’s a great opportunity to show customers just how good you are.
It’s an opportunity to demonstrate your worth.
You demonstrate that you honor your commitments when you show your customer that you can and will solve a problem. That’s worth something to your customers. Every customer knows at some point something will go wrong. You have just proven your value when customers know that they can rely on you to fix a problem.
You demonstrate your worth to yourself when you solve a problem.
Early in my sales career I got a voicemail that a customer had a problem. Without learning the specifics of the problem, I immediately doubted myself. I thought it would require a senior engineer instead of me to handle it. It turned out I was wrong. I missed the opportunity to build confidence in my ability to handle new challenges.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t ask for help. I am saying that you should first try yourself to fix whatever issue you face. Then, if you know it’s beyond your skillset, you should ask for help. I learned from my mistake. I never passed along a challenge before I first tried to solve it.
It’s an opportunity to prove you are different than your competition.
In the sales world you should never miss an opportunity to prove what you say. Talk is cheap and it’s almost worthless in the world of sales. Just ask a buyer what salespeople tell him.
Every salesman says his products are good and his service is great. Yet, both buyers and sellers know that service break downs occur. Does that make the salesperson a liar when he truly believes his service is excellent even when it breaks down?
No, it doesn’t. It’s when the sales professional works to solve problems that it is possible to believe his service, despite the break downs, is still excellent. Just as the sale doesn’t end until the money is in your bank account, the service experience isn’t over until the problem gets solved.
Show you are a creative thinker.
How you solve the problem is as important as solving it. Your customer will have greater appreciation for you when you offer more options that solve problems. There are often many alternatives to solve a problem that will still make a customer whole. Creative thinking produces more ideas.
For example, your customer needs product if a delivery is delayed. Can you substitute another product temporarily? Could you quickly ship a smaller amount so your customer can continue to operate? Does another customer located closer have product that could be used? All are creative solutions to a supply problem.
Your competitors want your business. You want your customers to remember that you are a problem solver when your competition calls on your customers. You are much harder to replace when your customer knows that you are unafraid to solve problems.