Anyone interacting with a customer should borrow a leaf from what we commonly refer to as roadside sellers.
Again and again, I see informal sector sellers thriving more than formal ones. The lessons from street vendors and road side sellers are simple, powerful, and rarely practiced in the corporate world. What is it that we can learn from them?
Stall owners
Wealthy or poor, indisposed or healthy, African or European, man or woman, adult or child, the fundamental need of any human being, is the desire to be appreciated. Acknowledging a prospect is a service that meets this desire. Simple, yet rarely practiced in the corporate world.
The best sales lesson from roadside sellers? They make you feel seen.
Anyone interacting with a customer should borrow a leaf from what we commonly refer to as stalls. These are usually sellers in the streets (road side sellers) with a makeshift shop. Choose any stall, whether in Nairobi’s CBD, Gikomba, or Kibera’s Toi market. As you pass by, you will hear welcoming voices and feel their warmth:
“Karibu customer; Ingia tu, ni sawa (Welcome! Come on in; it’s ok); Karibu jeans (Please come and see our collection of jeans); Sema tukusaidie customer (How may we help you?); Kuona ni bure (Viewing is free)’’ and on and on.
The salespeople in these much less elaborate, capital intensive, and informal stands will not fail to acknowledge your presence. Drawn in by such warmth and having been further enticed with, “hiyo shati ni yako (that shirt fits you perfectly)—said after you’ve tried it on—the close is a natural consequence.
Corporate sellers often miss this. They wait for the customer to walk in and then launch into a pitch. The roadside seller first acknowledges the person, then sells the product.
Salespeople at these comparatively simple stands tend to realize and practice this with much more frequency, professionalism and success than their counterparts in the corporate world.
Read: Hawking: the untapped sales strategy for enterprises
Hawkers
Rejection is so painful, that many actively avoid it. Sadly though, for the salesperson, avoiding rejection is a step backwards towards safety, and not a step forward into growth.
The primary reason why rejection is painful is because of the meaning we give to it. We take it personally; we own it—we give it this meaning: it’s me his rejected.
There is truth in the advice that the salesperson separates himself from his product if he is to manage rejection. Just like the hawker (a road side seller also) does when you roll up your window at his approach. I imagine he takes this to mean, not today, and casually moves on to the next vehicle.
Hawkers also teach us the importance of hunger. Few corporate sellers will want to be seen “chasing” after a business. It’s beneath them they think. It shows desperation. Yet to thrive in selling requires that we must hunger; like the hawker approaches you immediately you just look in his direction or runs after you because traffic has moved and interrupted the sale.
Tragically, many sales people are too proud to be seen to be following up and following through. Pride comes before a fall. And whereas the labourer’s appetite works for him, his hunger drives him on (Bible). To go beyond merely surviving to excitedly thriving, sellers must embrace the hunger of the hawker.
Newspaper vendors are roadside sellers
Creativity and intelligent prospecting.
Unfortunately, the word creativity has tended to be given M-Pesa proportions. And so many sellers see it as beyond their scope. Yet the vendor who stands at a bump knowing you must slow down is being creative. And intelligent prospecting is seen in the one who pushes his “free” newspaper through the slit in the window.
It is intelligent because he knows “free” isn’t free. He has much higher chances of securing a prospect (one who can advertise in the paper) among drivers on Mombasa Road early a.m. than with the labourers on Mbagathi Road trekking to Industrial Area on that very morning.
Instead of complaining about patients not remembering their file number, creative customer service staff, use stickers to stick it on the patient’s insurance medical card and voila! — problem solved.
Life is too short to learn everything from your mistakes. Learn from roadside sellers and let me know how it goes.
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