The honest salesman

July 5, 2008

As well as being one of our most prolific commenters, Lynne sells on eBay as josordoni. Today, she finds inspiration in one of my own favourite marketing gurus.

I have always been pretty laid back about eBay. I have never bothered too much about the various changes, just got on with listing and selling. However, the latest changes are making me paranoid. I watch my Dashboard and my 30 day DSR level with excitement and dread in equal measure – will it pick up or drop today?

All sorts of terrible things flash across my mind. Will my P&P drop below 4.6? Will I lose my discount? Will a couple of difficult buyers leave me negatives or neutrals so that I will lose my Powerseller status – or worse still , be suspended? Will Paypal suddenly take a dislike to something and take all my money and hide it away in a Swiss bank account never to be seen again?

The likelihood is that none of the above will happen. Although that doesn’t make the feeling any less unsettling.

But more importantly, how will this amorphous feeling of doom impact on my treatment of my customers? Can I manage to hold onto my courage sufficiently to believe that I will get back what I give them?

Well, according to Seth Godin, if I can stand back and run my company as if I am acting for my customers instead of for myself, I will knock the spots off my competitors. He wrote:

When a sales rep says, “You know, after hearing your situation, I think you’d be a lot better off with my competitor’s product instead, here’s her number,” it actually creates positive word of mouth and long-term growth. When a brand manager says to the product development people, “I’m not proud of this design, we’re not going to market it, so you better make something else,” it actually creates market share growth. And when a CEO says to Congress, “Our industry relies on chemical X and we’re going to keep using it as long as our competitors do, so please ban it,” she creates a long-term path to stability and growth.

If my buyers can see that I will be honest with them even if that costs me a sale, that will If I act in their best interests, they will trust me, and will behave better than I could ever hope for.

It is something I have always believed in, so I shall take a deep breath, close my eyes and ears to the naysayers, and hope that I can continue to act as if I am Seth’s Statesman.

(And wouldn’t it be nice if eBay would do the same for me?)

Written by Lynne Clark · Filed Under Featured, Selling Tips | 38 Comments