Buyers Are Full of BS (Buyer Strategy)…and Why Shouldn’t They Be?

I will start the phrase and you finish it: buyers are … LIARS.

Right?

Ever heard this?

Ever said this?

I am guilty as charged!

And, as we all know, the first step on the road to recovery is admitting the problem.

So, here goes:

“My name is Amy and I degrade my buyers.”

There. Wow, I feel better.

But, truth be told, over the past several years I have actually come to reject this popularly held opinion about buyers.

Of course, some people in the world are liars but being a buyer does not automatically make a person a liar.

When we use this phrase (and when we wallow in the thinking behind it) we create both real and imagined division between ourselves and our customers.

Sales need not exist as an “us vs. them” scenario, so saying and thinking that buyers are liars (even casually) is a bad mental habit.

Buyers are not liars. However, they ARE full of BS: Buyer Strategy. And why shouldn’t they be?

As sales people, we implement all kinds of strategies. I make my living by training others to build an arsenal of sales strategies. In fact, I built my entire career around developing sales strategies for sales people!

And, yet, we in the sales community find ourselves surprised and even irritated when buyers use their own strategies.

Rather than feeling distracted, annoyed or accusing people of lying, you should instead aim to identify when a buyer uses a “buyer strategy”.

Next, figure out why they are using this particular strategy. When you understand the motivation behind the strategy, you can deal directly with the issue at hand.

So let’s all chill out a little bit. Stop getting so upset when your customers act as strategically as you do!

It is your job to elevate your game with even stronger selling strategies so that you can effectively deal with the BS.

And when you elevate your game, you can change their world!


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About the Author: Amy O'Connor

As one of the most in-demand sales training consultants in North America today, Amy O’Connor brings a decade’s worth of industry experience and knowledge, along with a fresh female perspective on leadership, to her impactful and enlightening seminars.