How a salesman can ascertain the character of his customer ?

‘Salesmanship’ is the art of winning the hearts of consumers to dispose the firm’s products and services. It is the act of persuasion. It is the ability of a person to persuade the people to buy the goods and services for mutual gain, namely satisfaction to the buyer and profit to the seller.

A good salesman should have the perfect knowledge about the customers. Because individuals buy with different motives. Accordingly they should be treated in such a manner that it matures their word and need. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the salesman to recognize the mood and need of each customer. The process of recognizing or diagnosing the customer is known as sizing upon diagnosing the customers.

Sizing up customers is nothing but understanding the taste and felling of customers and tackling them in such a manner that their desire for a product is changed into demand. Ultimately the customer purchases the product. Sizing up customers needs (a) character analysis and (b) buying policy of customers.

Character analysis of customer:-

The character of a customer is generally reflected in his (i) carriage (ii) clothes, (iii) expression, (iv) conversation and (v) actions.

(i) Carriage–

Carriage of a prospect means the way in which the customer walks into the shop. From this the salesman can know and decide whether the customer is a shopper or a looker. The shopper type of customer walks straight to the shop and asks for goods. This type of customers is generally in a hurry. On the other hand, the looker type of customer walks casually into the shop to pass time.

(ii) Clothes

The economic status and taste of a prospect can be known by his clothes.

(iii) Expression

The expression of the prospect indicates the impression of the sales talk of the salesman and the nature of the customer. It shows whether the customer is frank, seller, suspicious or cheerful.

(iv) Conversation

The manner of speaking the language and tone of the customer should be observed carefully and the salesman must adjust his language and tone accordingly to suit the customers.

(v) Actions

Actions speak better than words. Actions of the customers should be observed very carefully. The actions include how he deals with the product, looks at them, how he is crazy about the latest and new products etc.