Does a “hard sell” work?

Recently, we put a poll out on social media “Does a hard sell work?”

Hard Selling is essentially being quite pushy, straight to the point and trying to sell your product without much understanding of what the customer needs. The Oxford dictionary actually uses the word “aggressive” which I think sums it up perfectly! Hard selling does indeed work and gets sales in some cases, but not all, and there is not often a chance of a solid, trusting relationship then being built after. Having being on the other side of a hard sell technique, I can say it can make you feel very intimidated and like you do not fully trust the service or product that you are being sold, so has the adverse effect intended.

The results for this poll were as follows, 70% said no it does not work and 30% said yes it does.  Interesting outcome! So, many think it doesn’t work, but still a decent percentage say it does. It is true, the pressure and directness from a hard sell can forcefully encourage customers to complete the sale. Putting someone under pressure without much time to think, means they can rush a decision, especially if it gets them out of the uncomfortable and awkward situation. But quite often, hard sells result in customers walking away and finding another more subtle offer to their need!

Next, People hate being sold to and when a typical hard sell salesperson doesn’t get their own way, they can become aggressive, manipulative and the outcome can be a full blown argument and absolutely no sale! Or a terrible review left online!

Also, Hard selling is stereotypically very manipulative, its intention is to intimidate, over power and pressurize which when most people are confronted with, makes them want to run a mile and never look back! So its very likely the sale will be lost.

Likewise, hard selling makes the sales person look desperate and as though they do not have any other customers, that desperation isn’t particularly attractive and can make a customer question why they are desperate, is it because they are not who they say they are or there product isn’t that good?

On the other hand, Soft selling, enables the salesperson to build rapport with their customer, get to know  and trust them and what they need, and tailor the sale to that customer. In the long run, a soft sell will always win, it is more genuine which means it will last longer and quite often mean lots of repeat business!

I hope this blog was interesting and informative. To read other blogs just click on the image below. Or to listen as a podcast go to: Sinclair and Rush UK LTD • A podcast on Spotify for Podcasters

Have a great day and bye for now!