What It Means to Sell Dreams (Let's Stop Selling Products)

For 45 years, from the time I graduated from university until I retired, I worked consistently in customer service and sales.
I didn't just work for one company,
and the methods varied, including door-to-door visits, telephone sales, route sales, and retail store sales, while the products I handled were diverse, ranging from stocks and bonds to alcohol, food, cosmetics, and luxury brand goods.
During that time, I have felt deep down that "the essence of customer service and sales is not simply selling a 'product'."I truly feel this.

For things like stocks, while there are physical stock certificates, what is being traded is not the face value.
It is the expected value of future profits or losses.
Customers buy from the salesperson who can accurately provide that information from a unique perspective.

Even with wholesale route sales, although the retail outlets are fixed, there are multiple suppliers coming and going from the stores.
Retailers choose to purchase from the salesperson who offers better terms and plans campaigns at the right timing.

Even if cosmetics or luxury brands are priced far beyond common sense, customers will flock to buy them from sales staff who can make them think, "This is a bargain!"

In other words,the 'products' I have sold consist of both visible 'things' and invisible 'things'.
In some cases, the invisible 'things' have higher value.
Customers will happily buy from a salesperson who can demonstrate those invisible 'things'.

This time, I will talk about that. I will proceed with the retail store sales I was involved in for a long time in mind.

There is a store, there are products, and there is sales staff.
Customers find the store, look from the outside to decide whether to enter, and once they decide to enter, they take a step inside and look around the store.
If they think there might be something there, they proceed and look at various products.
If they find what they are looking for, they pick it up and head to the register.

First of all, sales can be established without receiving customer service like this.
This is because the customer already has an image in their head of what it will be like after buying that product.
They have an image in their head of making something using it, or the finished product.
They also have a clear image of themselves going somewhere with it.
They brought it to the register because they judged for themselves that the product would likely realize that image.
There is always a purpose there.
They have an image in their head like, "I'll buy that and do this," or "I wonder if I can do this with this," and if they think it is necessary for them, they decide whether to buy it by judging whether the price is appropriate.
If it's just about the content of the product, reading the description is enough, so that level of customer service is unnecessary, and they might say, "I already know."

Even customers alone can connect visible 'things' and invisible 'things'.
However,that is nothing more than the minimum 'thing'.

The salesperson's job is to connect the product and the customer.
Customers come to the store imagining a 'changing' self or object, expecting, hoping, and painting an ideal, in order to turn it into a reality.
The store exterior must be in line with those thoughts, and the products must meet those demands.
Salespeople should not just stop at helping with that,but must make an effort to make those invisible 'things' larger and expand them further sideways.
By expanding sideways, demand for further related products is born.
This leads from just selling 'things' to selling 'dreams'.

It is not enough to just ring up the products the customer brought to the register.
What you sell to the customer is not just the product, but the value connected to that product, the added value, and the joy and better future obtained there.
The invisible 'dreams' are far greater than the visible 'things'.

Peter Drucker, a management scholar known as the "inventor of management," also said this.

Regarding customer service and sales, I have written about the basic mindset in "'Customer Service Tips' 3 Points to Increase Customers," and
I have summarized the specific methods in "'Customer Service Tricks' 7 Points to Capture Customers' Hearts." Please read them for reference.

As a specific method for selling 'dreams,' I will add 6 supplementary points.

1. First, know the dream the customer is currently envisioning.
By casually yet carefully grasping what they are worried about, dissatisfied with, and what is lacking, the dream they desire becomes visible.
Choose the 'dream' closest to that dream from the products in the store.

2 To make it easier for customers to envision a 'dream', I will specifically explain the story of the product, episodes related to the product, and impressions of actually using the product.

3. Once the products have been narrowed down, have the customer try them out..
Encourage them to pick up the items or try them on.
In the case of luxury goods, handling them carefully with slow movements—such as deliberately putting on white gloves—will cause the customer's "dream" to expand even further.

4. By observing the customer's reactions, sensing their feelings, and empathizing with them, you will gain more empathy and trust.

5. Convey an impression that aligns with the dream the customer mentioned at the beginning to gradually make it more concrete.

6. Once the customer starts showing excitement, anticipation, or a happy expression, it is almost a done deal, so you should move on to closing.

By doing this and expanding the initial dream into an even bigger "dream," it becomes a better product, and related items start to be added, turning a 1,000 yen sale into 2,000 or 3,000 yen.
Alternatively, there are times when they didn't intend to buy anything, but the staff provided them with an "insight," which leads to a purchase.
Moreover, the customer's level of satisfaction jumps to several times higher than when they choose by themselves.
This is a collaborative effort between the sales staff and the customer.
In other words, for the customer, it is an emotional experience that can only be obtained with that specific salesperson.
Other stores or other clerks won't do.
That is why they say, "I'll go back to that store, talk to that staff member, and buy from them."
There are various brands in the world, and stores selling the same products are everywhere.
There are also many staff members within those stores. Nowadays, there is also online shopping.
Customers choose only "this sales staff member" from among all those options and come to the store.
This is the more human form of selling.
Depending on the store, automation like self-checkout is progressing, but that only sells the bare minimum.
Isn't this kind of place the opposite of that, and something that is more sought after? How did you feel about this?

Thank you for reading today as well. I would be happy if you could like and follow. I look forward to your continued support.

#LetsTalkAboutWork