Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard

September 14, 2015

I am currently involved in selling our family home now that my kids are gone and we no longer need a large house. The process of dealing with listing agents and real estate sales people has sparked a number of articles about customers service and understanding who the customer really is within our newsletter/website. The qualities needed can be effectively transferred to other than steel buying and selling decisions that exist in the rest of our day to day lives.

I used to tell new steel salespeople as I was training them that they need to think of their job function of being no different than that of a brain surgeon. In other words, be (or become) a top professional in your area of expertise and don’t just be that person which relies on price, price, price as their only guiding principle. Your professionalism brings value to the table. This is why we conduct steel training classes to assist in the learning process by gaining new information and experiences.

I (unfortunately) am involved in an example of having a customer where all of the stars are aligned and a beam of light literally has brought them to our doorstep. A good salesperson job is to help the buyer see the light and work out the details that gets them their first choice home. Instead I am afraid their agent is someone who only looks at their commission check and not the big picture (what is best for their customer?). What makes the matter even more frustrating is this agent lives in the neighborhood – you would think they would want what is best for what will become a new neighbor.

There is so much more to this story and I don’t want to bore you with details. The purpose of my comment on this subject is sometimes the answer is right in front of your eyes and ears – you just need to train your senses to recognize opportunity (or what is the “right” thing to do for your customer). Look and listen for your cues (what does the customer really want?) then answer any objections and close the deal. Then make sure you and your company provide “outstanding customer service” as outlined by Mario Briccetti in a Steel Buyers Basics article we published in Sunday’s edition of SMU.

We still have seats available for our next Steel 101 workshop in lovely Davenport, Iowa. Come spend a couple of days seeing with your own eyes, hearing with your own ears and learning how steel is made, rolled, sold and the influences that impact pricing, relationships and the industry in general. Meet new people, make new contacts, get new sources of information both written (our workbook) and alive (our instructors). Got a question about the workshop? Contact me personally: 800-432-3475 or, John@SteelMarketUpdate.com – the dates are October 6-7, 2015 and the workshop comes with a private tour of the SSAB steel mill. Registration can be done online or through our office: 800-432-3475.

As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update. Please tell your friends about us – we need more good customers like you…

John Packard, Publisher

 

John Packard

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