Chances are, the last sale you lost had very little to do with price. You may have lost it to an assumption. As salespeople, we love to blame the competition when a deal falls through. We say things like, “They were cheaper,” “They had a better promotion,” or “The customer was only shopping price.”

Sound familiar?

Sometimes those excuses are legitimate. There’s always going to be someone willing to sell something cheaper, and there will always be customers who make their purchasing decisions based on price alone. But after more than two decades in this industry, I’ve come to believe that some of the most expensive sales we lose have absolutely nothing to do with our competition. In fact, we lose some of them before we ever write a quote—sometimes before we even show the customer a product.

We lose them because we assume.

We assume we know what customers want. We assume we know what they can afford. We assume we know what’s best for them before we’ve taken the time to understand what they’re trying to accomplish. And here’s the problem: Those assumptions usually come from our own experiences, preferences, and wallets rather than our customers’.

I’ve been guilty of these mistakes myself, and if you’ve been in sales long enough, the odds are good that you have too. There are three assumptions in particular that I believe cost our industry more sales than most of us realize: selling what we like, selling out of our own wallets, and judging customers by their covers. So let’s take a closer look at each one, and then explore what’s really possible when we stop assuming and start listening.

Assumption 1: Don’t Always Sell What You Like

Walk through enough showrooms, and you’ll hear some version of these statements:

• “This is the fireplace I have at my house.”
• “This is my favorite grill.”
• “If I were buying one, this is what I’d get.”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with sharing personal experience. In fact, first-hand product knowledge can be one of the most valuable tools we have. But there’s a big difference between sharing your experience to help someone make a decision and using your personal preferences to make that decision for the customer.

Let’s use outdoor cooking as an example. Maybe you’re a die-hard charcoal guy: You love cooking over lump charcoal, enjoy managing the fire, and believe nothing can compare to the flavor. I’m a charcoal guy myself, so I totally get it. But what happens when customers walk into your showroom looking for a pellet grill? Do you take the time to understand why they want one, or do you spend the next 20 minutes trying to convince them why charcoal is better?

I’ve watched salespeople do exactly that, and I can tell you what happens next: Those customers walk out the door, drive down the street, and buy the pellet grill they wanted in the first place. In those situations, you didn’t lose that sale because the competition had a better product. You lost it because you weren’t listening.

The same thing happens with fireplaces. Early in my career, I was guilty of trying to convince customers who came in looking for an electric fireplace that they really needed gas. In my mind, gas was the better option. It provided real heat and a real flame, and I felt it was a better overall product.

But that wasn’t what those customers came in looking for. Maybe they didn’t want to run a gas line. Maybe installation costs were a concern. Or maybe it was a young couple who had just purchased their first home, and they didn’t have $10,000 to spend on a fireplace, but they still wanted to enjoy having one in their home. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Think about the opportunity standing in front of you. You take the time to listen to that couple, understand their situation, and help them find an electric fireplace that fits their home and their budget. Maybe it’s not the biggest sale you’ll make that week, but you treated them with respect, took their needs seriously, and helped them get exactly what they were looking for.

So what happens next? They tell their friends and family about the experience they had at your showroom. They remember the salesperson who took the time to help them rather than trying to sell them something they didn’t want or couldn’t afford. Word of mouth can be your best friend or your worst enemy, and how you treat people has a lot to do with which one it becomes.

Now, let’s fast-forward five or 10 years and imagine that same couple building their dream home. This time, they’re looking at a $10,000 to $20,000 fireplace, and maybe they’re planning a complete outdoor kitchen. Guess where they’re going first? They’re coming back to the person who helped them when they bought their first home—the person who listened, treated them with respect, and made them feel like their business mattered—all because you took the time to help someone buy an electric fireplace years earlier.

Sometimes the smallest sale you make today can turn into the biggest customer you have tomorrow.

Think about the different people walking into our showrooms. A retired couple building their forever home might want a beautiful fireplace that provides ambiance without overwhelming their living space. A young family might want dependable supplemental heat during a winter power outage. A homeowner building an outdoor kitchen might entertain 20 people every weekend, while another couple simply wants to cook a couple of steaks on Friday night. Those customers aren’t shopping for the same experience, so why would we assume they need the same product?

Simply put, customers aren’t buying your lifestyle—they’re buying theirs. Our job isn’t to convince everyone to like what we like. It’s to understand what matters to our customers and help them find the right solution. At the end of the day, your favorite product might not be the best product for the person standing in front of you, and that’s perfectly fine.