The ability to pick up on the identity of the customer and know what is important from perspective is an invaluable skill. Some customers are detail people, others are more interested in finding an inttity they can relate to before making a purchase decision.
Know the difference. The personable customer will be bored by the statistics, and the detail person will not appreciate an attempt to be 'buddies.'
Stay in Communication
Persistence can be a great strength in sales.
Often potential customers don't have an immediate need for your services and reminders make a big difference in staying on the radar screen. There are numerous resources for staying in communication with your customers such as direct calls, e-mail, written communications, literature, and industry interactions. Just be wary of the line between persistence and pestering.
Be on Time
Punctuality is your first opportunity to show a potential customer that you are a person they can count on. That reputation for reliability then applies to your company and products as well.
Often circumstances will come up to make you late, and when they do it is critical to call ahead and reschedule. Take responsibility for whatever caused the breakdown - company business, a manufacturer, traffic or the weather.
No Effort Goes Unnoticed
It is often easier to justify why we didn’t do something extra than to justify why we did. However, in establishing a reputation for yourself and your company, going the extra distance often is what separates the wheat from the chaff at the time the critical decision is made as to what to buy.
Assume that an extra effort gets noticed and present it in a way that can be recognized as being beyond the call of duty. It always comes back to you: front, side, or center.
The Customer Is Always Right Even When He’s Dead Wrong
It is easy to say that the customer is off base, doesn’t have a clue, and you could fix them and their problems if they would just let you. This attitude leaves little room to establish a long-term relationship for business.
Get the Referral
One of the best resources that you have is your existing customer base -- the satisfied ones. They can provide an unbiased endorsement for your products and services. More importantly, customers often know people who have similar needs. The key is that you have to ask for the referral. Waiting for a referral will almost always take much longer than making the request up front.
Follow up
The sales conversation, like all conversations, fades over time. A critical step to successful sales is keeping the dialogue and actions moving forward. Even when the answer is not now, it is important to know when to follow up, or when to follow up on the actions taken to move the process forward.
Add-ons
The best source for new business is often expanding the current business with your existing customer base. Having an assessment of what they are currently buying from you, buying from someone else, sourcing internally, or leaving out is a resource.
If you have, or can create, alternative products, improvements, or integration, you have a pathway for additional sales. Sources for additional sales include products, services, and strategic alliances for other products and services.
Build a Rapport with Your Peers - They Will Be on Your Side Tomorrow
Inside any industry, there are almost always other products or people providing similar services.
Any industry has a certain amount of churn. People often find new jobs with another company in the same industry, or at least in a related industry. Therefore the guy on the other side may be on your side tomorrow. It is also possible that they may be in a related field, which means they are a potential source of new business opportunities either as customer, referral, alliance, or recommendation.
Join Your Customer’s Organizations
Potential customers often belong to various professional organizations. Join them. Having access to these groups is an effective way to connect with potential customers and enhance your rapport with existing ones.
Go either as a supplier or as someone committed to the field with the intention and goal of being an industry peer. This also will keep you current on industry trends.
Use Every Chance to Acknowledge Your Customers
Recognizing customers for their accomplishments is a powerful way to build a relationship. During the sales conversation, the customer told you what they wanted to accomplish, and how they hoped your product would help them reach that goal. Be sure to congratulate them when they hit those goals.
When to Say, "Thank You. No."
Win-win is a two-way street. There are times when a potential customer will continue to make requests such as asking for information, resources, and services without any intention of buying. This behavior is not easy to distinguish at first, but over time it becomes clear. In these circumstances, either say "no," or offer what is needed along with the associated costs.
MARKETING
Sales and marketing are often spoken of in the same breath, and for good reason. Effective marketing is key to successful sales. In sales there are some guidelines for assessing how to effectively sell and market you products and services.
What Have You Got to Work with?
Assess your company's current marketing plan to know if you are focused on the same markets as your company. Review the marketing materials, so you know what to choose for the sales conversations. Be able to make recommendations for future marketing materials based on a sales perspective and the requests of customers.
What Can You Create or Gather?
Often by knowing what marketing materials are available now and from the past, you can also know what to ask for or what materials to put together to meet your specific needs.
Are They Accurate and Up-to-Date?
If materials are out-of-date, push to get new materials printed. Brochures covered with stickers – even if it is just for a change of address -- look unprofessional.
How to Package and Present It?
Know how your company's marketing materials are supposed to be presented. Your presentation will be more effective if the brochure or quotation you leave behind reinforces the same message.
What’s Enough?
It is often difficult to gauge what is going to be the appropriate marketing materials for a particular customer. Often it is better to have a conversation first, then present the materials that are best suited to their needs. Otherwise you'll overwhelm the customer with information.
SALES TOOLS
It is important to have the right and reliable tools to get the job done.
In sales this often includes a car, computer, pens, briefcase, paper and account files. Keep notes and build databases. Over the years, powerful businesses have been built through the collection of data and the subsequent integration of that data into information.
Information on your customers and their companies, products, services, connections, needs and wants, as well as what is coming up in the immediate, near-term, and long-term futures are critical tools for successful sales. There are many systems to do this: database programs, Palm Pilots, note cards, Day-Timers, etc. Find one and use it.
Set Up a System
Put a method to the madness. While every sale is different, there are a number of processes that are similar or the same from one situation to the next. Being able to look at what is involved in each sale and see where the processes can be streamlined or made more efficient is an important means of increasing the throughput of the sales process.
What are your resources? Take an inventory, then evaluate, sort, and choose. In sales there are always a lot of potential resources.
• Literature: Old literature, new literature, corporate media, annual reports, industry reviews, etc.
• Customers/Accounts: Existing customers, lost customers, potential customers, leads, referrals, cold calls, etc. Track your success.
• Customer Interactions: Conferences, interactions, presentations, displays.
• Human Resources: From inside ¯ executives, sales and marketing management, product management, technical support, research and development. From outside ¯ sales force, field support, maintenance.
The key is to be able to access what is potentially available and then establish a hierarchy of what is going to lead to sales on short- and long- term tracks, small- and large-volume sales and minimal to grueling effort.
GOALS AND TRACKING
Set Goals
What is the real purpose of goals? They pull you forward like a bungee cord.
Having a sales target is essential to establish a sales plan. I often recommend looking at what is beyond reasonable, as it will create unreasonable results.
There are some key things to consider. One is who can work with me to achieve these goals and what incentive is there for them? The other is how can I communicate my goals to my customers so that they can support me in winning.
Track Your Success
If you have no compass, you can’t tell if you’re moving in the right direction. One of the pitfalls of sales is focusing on the sales and not on where you are in moving each conversation forward. Have a system to know where each existing and potential sale is in the sales process. That allows for prioritization.
Other Issues
Appearance
Looking good, smelling good, sounding good, and smiling ear to ear. First appearances, second appearances, and every appearance count for a lot. Presenting yourself is often as important as presenting your products. Being well groomed is extremely important.
Continuing Education
The only problem with a learning curve is that it stops when you think you are at the top. In any field there are always great resources to make yourself more useful to your company, your customers, and yourself. Sources include formal educational institutions, certification courses, self education, corporate training initiated by the company or yourself, industry organizations, industry publications, seminars, conferences, and, most important, your customers. It is difficult to be a resource for that which you do not understand.
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