Do you know how it feels?

Do you know how it feels to be halfway through the month and your draw isn’t even covered? The last 3 customers yielded no sale. The first wanted to buy but couldn’t. The next one could buy but wouldn’t and the last one could, did, and ended up backing out at the last minute.

Do you know how it feels to hear the voices of negativity and cynicism grow louder-when the only remnants of your self esteem is like the thin layer of steam left on your mirror after a hot shower.

Do you know how it feels that despite the sickening feeling in your stomach and your shoulders are all knotted up with tension, you still push off to grab the next Up.

Do you know what how it feels to reach deep down to conjure up a smile and walk up to a stranger’s vehicle only to be greeted by a 1” crack in their window? They’re too reluctant to tell you their name, too scared to get out of their vehicle.

Do you know how it feels when there are only seconds separating a customer’s decision to either get out of the comfort of their car or burn off citing the old, familiar line of, “We’re just looking.”

Do you know how it feels to give an award winning walk-around worthy of an Emmy even though all of the decision makers aren’t present?

Do you know how it feels to follow up with your customer-answering all of their questions through tireless research?

Do you know how it feels to split a deal with another salesperson so you can focus all of your attention on the customer who came back? You thought today was the day, but you soon find out that they’re still not ready.

Do you know how it feels to follow up with that customer after investing hours, days-even even weeks only to be told they've bought somewhere else?

Do you know how it feels? Good, now you know the regrets, emptiness, and painful feelings your customers have when they receive your poor service.

Now you know how it feels for a customer to think you were different than all of the other salespeople. When they were a shopper you picked up on the first ring, now that they’re an owner they have to leave a message.

Now you know how it feels to have to pick up a few extra shifts at work because their salesperson convinced them to live a little. For the next 2,190 days they’re committed to the bank-they only got 5 days of grudging commitment out of you.

Now you know how it feels for a customer to have to stand and wait in a faceless line of “service”-while they’re hustling up a ride to work, the one they decided to finally trust, walks right by them-not even a glance of familiarity shows on your face- you’re too busy wooing another customer.

The pain a salesperson feels must be temporary-blown deals, missed opportunities, and random acts of injustice and unfairness must be leveraged as growth toward a more productive future. Whereas the pain a customer feels when a salesperson fails to follow through is much different-shirks [of responsibility], shoos [of promises to call back later], and no service [ever] make the stains of hurt much more permanent.

Now that you remember how it feels, don’t ever let your customers feel it again.

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Comment by Marsh Buice on December 26, 2013 at 11:39am: @ Bill thanks for reading my friend

@ Pat, long time no hear brother. I think too often we get caught up in our on feelings-when we work so hard with a customer and the customer buys elsewhere, we get jaded and very cynical. I wrote this because it's one of the only ways we as sp can relate to how a customer feels when we fail to follow through on our end. Now that we know what that feels like, it's important to not let our customers feel that feeling again. Thanks for reading, sharing , and commenting my friend. Cheers to a prosperous 2014!

Comment by Pat Kirley on December 26, 2013 at 5:25am: Hi Marsh
Another excellent insight into our mindset, we tend to assume we are doing the customer a favour, while the truth is the customer is paying our salary and without him/her we will not exist.
Once again thank you and Happy Christmas and I look forward to your words of wisdom in 2014. I will share your article with my colleagues in the dealership.

Comment by Bill Gasson on December 24, 2013 at 2:25pm: EXCELLENT

Comment by Marsh Buice on December 20, 2013 at 7:59pm: Thanks Joe-I appreciate you brother.

Comment by Joseph Cala on December 19, 2013 at 9:16pm: Strong Marsh! Great one brother!

Comment by Marsh Buice on December 18, 2013 at 4:06pm: Danny, LOL brother I'm glad you guys keep me a little longer. I appreciate your support and kind words. You rock bro!

Comment by Danny Benites on December 18, 2013 at 12:35pm: Marsh,

Thanks again for the thought-provoking read! Thanks, also, for what you do for our business on an ongoing basis. Your nuts and bolts observations make me assess myself every time I read them. You are a keeper!

Comment by Marsh Buice on December 18, 2013 at 6:33am: @David thanks for reading & your comments.

Comment by Marsh Buice on December 18, 2013 at 6:32am: @Braden I Love that quote too! I think in sales we have to make that our mantra and literally read that every day bc we get short sighted, cynical,& jaded very quickly. I wrote this bc we know how it feels when we've done ALL that work only to find they bought somewhere else- we hide for the day, we go home, or/& we allow it to ruin the rest of our month. We know how that feels- now just think how the cust feels when we do the same thing back to them. When you loose your heart in this business, your career will be dead soon. Thanks for sharing Og's quote.