Comments on: Hard Selling vs. Soft Selling: Which Approach Do You Use With Clients?

By: Glen McCandless

Glen McCandless — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:30:10 +0000

I got into this today during a sales meeting, when one of the sales reps suggested that we need to use “hard sell” tactics on prospective customers. The image of hard sell is exactly what the words imply. Aggressive, disrespectful and self-centered behavior. Someone wants to sell something to make a commission, with little regard to the needs or timing of the person on the receiving end. Asking for the order need not be a “hard sell” – but it can be harder for the seller because they need to listen and be smart enough to craft the right message to persuade the prospect to buy.

By: I Stopped Selling to My Customers -- and Started Training Them to Buy | Owners Only | BNET

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:00:21 +0000

[...] Read this blog post on the merits of hard and soft sales tactics. [...]

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:00:49 +0000

I doubt it works very well. I had a hard selling experience at a gym recently and it has all but convinced me not to join there. The reason you probably bought the shovel was due to other factors. Maybe you were in a good mood that day. You could also had been in somewhat of a hurry and weren't put off enough to say F it I'm going somewhere else. However in the end a shovel isn't a very involved purchase and it's likely that you didn't put much thought into buying it.

Can you imagine working over the course of a month or two with a bossy high pressure person on a major project? I bet that short of them being some sort of well respected guru it would get annoying real quick.

By: Dmitri Eroshenko

Dmitri Eroshenko — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:17:26 +0000

I personally hate hard selling on both giving and receiving ends. I would never use it and over the years I learned not to succumb to it.

I agree with @gregdeming, hard helpers will outsell hard closers every time. But regardless of how you close, you must earn the right to close first.

By: gregdeming

gregdeming — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:25:22 +0000

oops, sorry for the type

By: gregdeming

gregdeming — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:24:26 +0000

Hard Selling? Celine I like the article but would you be willing to consider another alternative? How about helping the customer navigate throug their buying process? Silly notion with an item like a shovel, but how about buying something like a car? How about a house? The higher the cost the more prospects want help and HARD Helpers will outsell hard closers!