Relationship Selling

Posts Tagged ‘Sales Follow Up’

Many local business owners have one thing in common: an excellent knowledge of their trade/service/product.  They know what they want and they go after it with vigor.  But many times they are extremely knowledgeable in their field but they lack an essential skill for true success:  Selling.  This is where learning the skills necessary for relationship selling come into play.

Local business owners are not usually salespeople and when they first start out in their business they rely mainly on word of mouth or local advertising.  This is great for getting people in the door but what happens once they have entered? Today’s market is extremely competitive and to truly succeed, you need to stand out from the crowd.   Knowing your trade or business and being an expert in this trade is crucial but if you cannot communicate a reason to buy from you and not from your competitor, then you are going to be left out.

Do you need to be an expert salesperson to sell to your customers/clients?

Absolutely not.  But you need to learn some critical communication skills in relationship selling before you hang the “Open for Business” sign on your door. One of the most important aspects of relationship selling is to understand that you are providing value to your customer.  If you are able to separate this from the idea of “selling”,  then you will have conquered a good portion of ground to learning these skills.  Providing value by solving your customer’s problem is paramount to overcoming the hurdles that many local business owners face when trying to “sell” their product/service.

There are ways to handle a customer from first contact through the “sale” which will differentiate you from your competitors.  You don’t have to be a super salesman to get the job done correctly and you certainly don’t need to be uncomfortable or feel “pitchy” when talking to a prospective customer/client.

Relationship Selling helps you understand the basics of building a relationship with your customer/client first and to dig deeper into their issues/problems so you can provide a “real” solution to these problems. Thus, you are providing them value and helping them solve their problems; not trying to make it more about you than them. These skills are not learned overnight but they can be learned and applied daily to your business. Anyone can do this type of selling.  It is the not the old fashioned “what’s in it for me” approach, but rather “what’s in it for my customer”.

Once these skills have been acquired, you will be amazed at how easy it will be to approach a customer/client with confidence and assurance that what you are offering is value based and something that will help them.  This helps to take the “selling” portion out of the picture and this is a huge stumbling block for most new small local business owners.

Being extremely knowledgeable in your field is the first step to success.  Learning the skills necessary for is the next critical step for continued growth and profitability.

Most have a strategy for attracting new customers. But what is your strategy for keeping the customers you already have? Customer retention strategy is rooted in the relationship selling process. It is based on loyalty. Loyalty is developed by knowing your customers needs and how you respond to those needs. To outshine your competition you need to focus on understanding the real needs. There is intrinsic value the customer derives with doing business with their company. 

In the olden days loyalty was taken for granted. Not any more. Today you must demonstrate value and appreciation for your customers. It is so easy for them to fall off the radar; but if they do so will the sales. Time to rethink customer engagement to boost satisfaction and ultimately, retention.

Get to know your customers. Gather information about  your customers with the mindset that you will act on it. Ask what’s important to them. There are several ways to do this: online surveys, a few questions on the phone after the sale. This may seem like common sense but my experience is that common sense isn’t so common anymore.  Follow up immediately after a sale to handle any complaints right away.  A 2-way dialogue will make them feel part of the process and they will feel respected.  

Getting to know your customer is about personal attention and recognition. These are the key ingredients for strengthening retention. Listen to feedback and apply their recommendations to everyone. Make them feel part of a community or tribe as Seth Godin writes about. Keep track of past purchases and preferences; this is valuable information. Have special offers and incentives that are for current customers only.  Communicate these via newsletter, e-newsletter or other forums. Customer retention strategies only work if the customer benefits from them. Give them what they expect and then give them more.

It’s no longer location, location, location. It’s communicate, communicate, communicate. It is important to have a follow up system in place. Incorporate the use of thank you calls, emails, cards in the mail. Stay in touch with your top 20% customers. This means picking up the phone at least quarterly to personally touch base with the top 10 to 25. Remember it is that 20% that makes up 80 percent of your sales. These satisfied customers are the most likley to give you referrals; especially if you give them an incentive for both the new and existing customer. 

Ask them about their customer experience and what would make it better. Then be willing to implement the changes. If their experience hasn’t been good you want to turn it around immediately. You will only find out if they are happy with their purchase if you follow up a few days to a week after the initial purchase. When you are accessible the relationship will only get stronger. 

Applying the relationship selling process is part of your unique selling proposition. This is how you stand out from the crowd. The personal touch is what is missing in today’s online world. This is how you can get your foot in the door for your market. This is how you can compete with the big guns who no longer have time.

Loyalty comes from applying the relationship selling process and customer retention is based on this loyalty. Remember there is intrinsic value the customer derives with doing business with their company.

Creating customer value is at the core of Relationship Selling.  Relationship selling is all about relationship building and moving a customer forward in the process while building that relationship.

So a natural component of that process would naturally be creating customer value.  But is it as black and white as it seems?

Not always, but some great ways to create customer value and have their perception of your product/service be one of value to them is a process and you need to do your homework first.

First you need to be sure you address your customer/prospect’s specific pain when looking for solutions to their problem.  If what you are offering does nothing to solve this “pain” then there is no perceived value in your offering.

This solution should be specific to your prospect – not a “one size fits all” approach but a customized, thought provoking solution that correlates the problem/pain with that solution.   Be prepared to offer them something unique.  Something that makes your product/service “stand out” from the crowd.  How do you differ from your competition?  What makes your product unique to their special needs.  If you can deliver in this area, you have provided value to your customer that others cannot.  Everyone sells pizza but does everyone guarantee it within a certain amount of time or it’s free?  Dominoes used to do that and it worked quite well with college students who were looking for “free”.  Their pain was monetary and their need was hunger so Dominoes tapped into both and created a great unique selling proposition.

Creating customer value is a process and it takes homework but it is at the core of building relationships and without it, you are just another “salesperson” looking for the big bang.

Don’t get caught up in the sale.  Be prepared, be thoughtful, be attentive and make your product/service be the solution that your customer/prospect is looking for and one that will result in repeat business, referral business and increased profits.

Creating customer value through relationship building is the key to a good, solid, lasting customer base.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

The 1st skill of relationship selling is all about you and how you present yourself to your prospect. In a word, posture. In this article I will be writing in the context of having a good phone posture but of course these points can be applied to any situation.

You have about 10 seconds in your first live contact to start building the relationship. Introduce yourself a.s.a.p. and always have a valid business reason for calling. Answer the age old WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) question. This is where you plant the seeds for your sales follow up. Are you confident? Let them feel your confidence; your voice projects into the phone. The only way to achieve this is to know what you are talking about.

Be prepared. This is best achieved by having a dress rehearsal. Prepare your introduction. Sit in a quiet room and role play as though you are talking to your customer. You may even want to go so far as to write it out. This is not to say that you will read it during your call. You will have gone over it enough times that you have committed the gist of it to memory. This way when you are speaking to your customer you will sound confident because you are comfortable with your material and will be more open to hearing what they have to say.

When giving a one on one you have several ways of using body language but on the phone all you have is your voice. It is harder to communicate with voice alone. Your tone is extremely important. Do you have a pleasant tone of voice? Are you being clear? Do you sound sincere? Do you convey empathy? Do you sound confident? Is there a smile in your voice? If not, put a sticky with a smiley face in front of you. Believe it or not your smile will project itself. Have a positive attitude and put your ego aside. Particularly when speaking over the phone.

A positive attitude is projected over the phone. They are looking for direction so you need to be the leader. Position yourself as a professional. Be friendly but do not engage in idle chit chat. You can be compassionate and sympathetic to their problems and challenges without hearing their entire life history. Small talk does take place but maintain a business atmosphere and have your objective with a time frame to set it in. There is no need to be rushed, simply walk through the steps to move the process forward.

Patience is a virtue. Impatience is detrimental to sales lead conversions. Be genuine, project sincerity. They will pick up on any falseness. It’s nice to share a bit about yourself if it shows you have something in common. They will be able to relate to you and this will go a long way towards developing trust. When on the phone it is easy to be distracted. Take notes to keep you present. No multi-tasking! Taking good notes will also help you with your sales follow up. To recap, you are confident and positive. You are prepared. You are present. You are sincere and compassionate. You are a leader and a professional.

Relationship selling is all about having a good posture and preparation. If you have a good posture and have prepared well your meeting will be successful. And the stage will be set for your sales follow up.

Related Articles: 

• Relationship Selling | A Sales Company – by Lee Ann Obringer Did you know that it costs more than five times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep an existing customer? That in itse…

• Do you have an auto-responder?
• Do you have a newsletter?
• Do you have a contact management system that tells you what your next step in the follow up sales process is?
• Do you send business thank you cards? Postcard mailing can be an inexpensive way to keep yourself in front of your customer in a non obtrusive way.

In reality e-mail seldom gets opened; 20% in fact. I didn’t really believe it until I got an auto-responder that actually told me how many had opened my email; pretty depressing! Now if your email had been followed up with by a card in the mail with your picture, contact information and your desire to help them; your customer would be far more likely to read your e-mail or pick up the phone the next time you call. Call it relationship selling; yes you are selling but you are also building a relationship. Relationship selling can also be called consultative selling. You position yourself as more of a consultant than a sales person. Sales follow up begins during your first consultation. Instead of sitting across the table; you are sitting on the same side with your arm around their shoulder (not literally); and together you are finding the best solution to their needs. Hopefully your product is the solution but not necessarily. If you have built rapport with your client during that first meeting; even if what you have isn’t for them they will be far more likely to be willing to do business with you in the future and/or send you a referral. whereas if you try to push your agenda you not only won’t get that sale but you will have burned that bridge as well. Its all about creating customer value and doing proper sales follow up. And remember sales follow up begins at that very first meeting. A great example of an excellent sales follow up plan can be seen here:

• Axe Music, a Great Sales Follow-Up Example – The large majority of businesses do not have a sales follow-up program in place. Once a customer makes a purchase, they are on their way, often never to be heard from again. Going the extra miles to ensure that your customer had an …