Buy Versus Sold: The Customer Perspective

SELL and SOLD, two four letter dirty words. At least, that is what we have convinced ourselves. Reason being, all too often, we hear the word sold and many of us envision the used car salesman and none of us think of a positive sales experience when thinking of a used car salesman. We think of buyers remorse and being sold what the salesperson wanted to sell us and not what we actually wanted or were sold something through deceit.

Yet, as consumers, what do we do? After purchasing our cup of coffee and being handed our drink, most of us say “Thank You”. We are actually thanking the person that is completing the sales process for us even though we are the consumer.

When on social media, I am constantly bombarded with photos of people at home with the bottle of wine they recently purchased, advertising to the world that they made a purchase and they are enjoying it.

Social media also has people checking in and posting about the meal they are enjoying at a restaurant where they are completing a sales process as well, purchasing an experience and a meal.

The social media posts seem to get more vocal and demonstrate even higher levels of excitement the larger the purchase. Buyers post pictures of themselves at the dealership buying their new car with the salesperson even responding to the post, CONGRATULATIONS!.

New home buyers, a humongous purchase for many, and the family is jumping for joy, sharing their purchase with all their friends and family. The real estate agent, salesperson, may even boast online about their ability to sell the listing even though everyone knows the salesperson received a good amount of commission on the deal.

Some businesses even brag about their sales. How long have we been seeing businesses like McDonald’s telling us how many burgers they have sold?

Sales are being completed constantly and we’re being told about it yet we continue to have a negative connotation of sales.

The difference is the concept of buy versus sold.  People LOVE to buy. They love it! As consumers, we will even go to places like the mall with no plan just to walk around and LOOK for things to buy. And when we do buy something, if we like it, we even want everyone to know we bought it. But we DON’T like to be SOLD! When we are sold something, as the consumer, we feel like we didn’t choose the product or service, we were somehow tricked into it. When we buy something, we feel like we made a choice, a decision based on a logical analysis of what we want and what we can afford so we have pride not only in our decision making process but in the fruits of our labor which is the purchase.

As the consumer, the difference is how the salesperson makes us feel. If we feel listened to and if we feel the salesperson is HELPING us in the decision making process instead of TELLING us what to do, then we feel appreciative.

That is the difference between buy versus sold. So what does that mean for the salesperson? Stay tuned.