In a high volume call center such as ours, we deal with diverse personality types, each requiring its own selling approach. Some customers just need a firm hand to hold onto when making a purchase. The more difficult customer is usually the person who “knows exactly” what they need even though you know that it will never work for what they want.
This article discusses some of the relationship management techniques that are useful when selling to a customer who acts like and egotist. An easy way to spot an egotist is to listen to how they word their sentences. They like to “blow their own horn” and tend to use a lot of sentences with “I”, “me”, or “my” in them. Egotists tend to be people who know everything and no matter how hard you try you are not going to change their minds. This type of prospect knows all, sees all, is always correct, and has never made a mistake about anything. Any customer with such a strong personality needs to be treated with a slightly different approach.
An egotistical customer is often overly demanding and wants to feel a sense of controls over everything they do. They tend to be very result-oriented people who want to be in command and like to exert their authority as the customer. The solution to dealing with this customer profile is fairly easy:
- Recognize the prospect is an egotist
- Give the egotist control
- Distance yourself personally and keep an open mind
- Prompt the prospect to talk and then look for common ground
- Become an equal
By allowing the caller to take control, you are feeding into their ego. The caller is in charge and feels as thought they are making all the decisions. This takes the pressure off the salesperson and reduces the chance of conflict or frustration. A disadvantage is that the rep has much less control of the situation and will have less opportunity to make potential upsells or suggest options.