Recently I took a half day out of the office and I had Refractive Lens Exchange (*RLE) surgery. Arrive 60 minutes prior to the surgery for final checks, eye measurements, pen lines and dot points marked on my eyeballs, and eye drop sedation applied. Then when the surgery begins it is 15 minutes on each eye, with a 10 minute break in the middle between each eye for the surgeon to re-tool, then 20 minutes recovery time at the end before being driven home to rest for the evening. The next morning I removed the taped on plastic protective eye goggles, as requested, and I drove myself unaided to the eye clinic for the check-up. I now have 20/20 vision back which should now remain for the rest of my life, with no risk or possibility of Cataracts.
So why am I sharing this with you? Well I was the buyer rather than the seller in this fascinating sales experience and I wanted to share with you the similarities of a sales process in the buyers shoes.
- As the buyer I responded to an advertisement which I heard on the radio. I didn’t call initially but once I heard the advert a few times on the radio I visited their website and then started seeing this companies adverts on my social media feeds. I then booked an initial consultation through the website.
- I received a call to discuss my enquiry and my appointment and what to expect from the appointment including the time to set aside and the process undertaken during the appointment. I was given plenty of time and opportunity to ask questions.
- The consultation or discovery meeting with the optometrist was thorough and I went through a one-hour consultative process subjecting my eyes to various equipment to determine my fit for surgery. At the end of the discovery I was presented with 2-3 options for the type of lens required. I was also informed of the process for the surgery and what to expect before, during and after the surgery. There was plenty of time to ask questions,
- The final sales or buying stage was an appointment scheduled with the surgeon who would be performing the surgery. He too discussed the best of the 2-3 options for the type of lens required, the process for the surgery prior, during, and after surgery. His process aligned exactly with the optometrists (which was good!) and again I had an opportunity to ask questions and dive deeper into my buying process. He even gave me his mobile number to call at any time.
- I was sold. I was the buyer and I bought based on my buying process and habits. I felt aligned to the seller and I trusted the optometrist and the surgeon. A lot of trust was bestowed on the surgeon!
So when you next sell something, give your buyer every opportunity to ask questions, uncover the help the buyer needs, provide the help the buyer needs, give the buyer the opportunity to discuss the help the buyer needs with others in your organisation, and provide the buyer with the upmost confidence and trust that you can do as though this is the largest and the last sale that you will ever make. When the buyer has this kind of experience, the value and outcome of the sale far outweighs the investment.
*RLE is a surgical procedure that involves replacing the natural lens of the eye with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) to correct vision problems, such as near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and presbyopia. It is similar to cataract surgery but is performed for patients who do not have significant cataracts. RLE can provide vision correction and reduce or eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses.
So far so good..
