12 Selling Skills
Chapter 11: Reselling and Being Introduced
What lies ahead
and behind you will be paler than what lies within you. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today, the cost of a customers,
especially in the B2B business,
real estate,
insurance
and high-tech products,
can be enormous.
The cost of time,
travel,
advertising,
prospecting,
presentations,
planning,
and preparation can range
from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per client.
Acquiring a new customer at this cost can bankrupt a company
unless the customer continues to buy
and use that and other company’s products,
or become a source of recommendations
and Trusted referrals.
Referral has become a common job in the sales job
at the present time.
Your success as a salesperson will be largely determined
by your ability to make your customers happy enough
to be willing to refer you to others,
time and time again.
The best sales people and the best companies,
develop strategies to get customers
and turn them into loyal customers.
Success depends on developing long-term relationships
with customers and then retaining them
to face today’s increasingly competitive marketplace.
Your goal is to get a loyal customer based on repeat transactions.
The best way is to be a “reputable advisor”
to your customers
so that once they have purchased a product/service from you,
they will come back and keep buying
from you over and over again
until they no longer need
or use the product/service you sell.
When you begin to contact all customers
with the goal of creating
and keeping that customer
for you and for your company,
you will treat that customer in a different way
and your chances of achieving.
That goal will be much bigger.
“To build a long-term, successful enterprise,
when you don’t close a sale, open a relationship.” – Patricia Fripp
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Customers are “harder”
Customers today are harder to convince than ever.
When the economy grows rapidly,
they weigh less and buy faster.
They are always in a hurry,
and they have money to spend.
But as economic activity slows,
so does consumer enthusiasm for anything expensive or new.
Namely, sales success today is more challenged
than by today’s customers:
“Always begin with:
‘So that I can better serve you,
do you mind if I ask a few questions?'” – Jodie Shaw
• Learn more about the products/services available to them.
They have more experience in using your product/service,
or a competitor’s product/service,
than ever before.
They also have a better understanding of their specific needs,
wants, and requirements.
They set higher standards for products/services,
namely quality standards and value requirements.
“Always have an attitude of gratitude.” – James R. Nowlin
***************
• Constantly being approached by your competitors.
With just one click,
every piece of information
ever written about your company,
your products and the entire industry
will be in front of your competitors
as well as your customers
or anyone else who might be interested by information needs.
No matter what you offer,
your competitors are willing to offer the same things,
and often better and cheaper things.
“The sole reason we are in business is
to make life less difficult for our clients.” – Matthew Odgers
***************
• There are more choices than ever before.
They can buy from you.
They can buy from one of your many competitors.
There is only one thing they have less of,
and that is the attitude of haste when making a decision.
Buying it today,
tomorrow or next year usually doesn’t matter much to them.
“You have to tell a story before you can sell a story.” – Beth Comstock
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• Impatient.
If they have a really urgent need,
they want to be satisfied immediately.
They want the product/service you’re offering right away.
If you can’t deliver high quality products/services
in required quantity quickly after they decide to buy it,
they will pick up the phone
and immediately contact your competitors,
who can deliver the goods sooner.
It’s an unfortunate truth about business life right now,
that if potential customers realize that
you can’t satisfy their needs quickly,
they’ll look to your competition,
and never come back.
You will never get the chance to see
and talk to these customers again.
Your competitors have had them “for a lifetime”.
Achieving good results in business today has become harder than ever.
It requires you to meet more potential customers
to find the real potential customers
and then convince them to become your customers.
It requires you to meet
with a potential customer more to close a deal.
Customers have become more careful,
more thorough and more skeptical
when considering buying anything,
they need a lot more information and certainty
before they can make a purchase decision.
Even if you sell products,
you never have
many competitors with you as now.
Your competitors are very assertive and aggressive.
They want the business to get the results you want
and are always willing to work harder
and harder than you to get those results first,
and then keep them.
Second transaction
What is the purpose of a business?
In Peter Drucker’s wonderful explanation,
it is “create and keep a customer”.
A lot of people think
that the purpose of a business is to make a profit.
But profitability is merely the result
of a cost-effective process
of creating and retaining customers.
The best businesses
and the best entrepreneurs think about generating customers.
They always ask,
“What do we need to do to please
and satisfy our customers better
than any of our competitors?”
The first transaction,
creating the customer in the first place,
is the hardest and most expensive part.
The cost of acquiring a customer,
in terms of time,
money,
energy and investment,
can be enormous.
A lot of companies actually go bankrupt
because the cost of acquiring a customer is higher
than the net profit they get from selling to that customer.
Every week you get to read stories
in financial magazines about companies
that have made billions of dollars
in sales in a particular quarter
or year but are still losing hundreds of millions of dollars.
How could this happen?
How do such companies achieve such high sales
and still fall into a loss,
and often go bankrupt
or be taken over by competitors?
The answer is that their costs have spiraled out of control.
The cost they spend to acquire customers is much higher
than the profit they can make from those customers.
Because of its high fixed costs,
inefficient
and excessive spending on processes
and procedures, among other factors,
the company suffered “losses in all transactions,
and the number of transactions
The more it goes up,
the bigger the loss will be.”
“To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought
or measured with money,
and that is sincerity and integrity.” – Don Alden Adams
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The second transaction is the most important for all businesses.
You can get the first deal by discounting,
cheating or using tricks with customers.
You can convince customers to buy
by assuring them that they will enjoy benefits,
results, and impact
that are far more valuable than they cost them.
But the second transaction is a demonstration
that you did what you promised the customer the first time around.
When a customer buys your product/service again,
they are telling you:
“Thank you.
“Customer service is about empathy.” – David Bakke
You fulfilled all the promises you made
when I first bought from you.
Now I’m back to buy from you again.”
That’s why reselling is 10 times easier than making a new trade.
They require 1/10th the effort
and time compared
to going to market
and acquiring a new customer for the first time.
Instead of having to advertise,
contact,
make an appointment with the prospect,
make the pitch,
negotiate the contract,
arrange the payment terms,
and everything else needed in the first sale,
the first sale by second order
– resale
– is quick,
easy and cost-effective.
That’s why all successful companies
and salespeople focus on
creating a continuous stream of resale transactions
with satisfied customers in their service.
“Life is for service.” – Fred Rogers
Plus, referrals from satisfied customers make sales 15 times easier
than you would in a regular meeting.
Compared to finding a brand new customer,
selling to referrals
and referrals requires only 1/15 of the time,
effort,
and cost.
If one of your customers liked you
and was satisfied with the product/service you provided,
and recommended you to one of their friends
or community members,
your chances of selling
Sales for that newly referred customer will be up to 90%
if you enthusiastically offer to sell.
As they say:
“It is entirely up to you to sell or not.”
Remember, customers are lazy
and are constantly looking for ways
to make decisions easier and faster.
When someone they know
and respect recommends a product/service,
the whole process of evaluation
and deliberation is shortened.
If your friend has ever bought a product,
you can buy it
with confidence right away.
In short, customer retention
is the key to business success.
Acquiring a new customer is too difficult
and expensive,
especially if that customer only buys
from you once and never buys again.
Your goal in the first interaction
with the customer should be how
to be able to sell to this customer a second time,
and then a third time.
Even before completing the first transaction
you have to think about everything
that you will need to please this customer
so much that he will buy from
you again and again.
Your first goal is to make a sale.
Your second goal is to keep selling
to that same customer,
over and over again.
And your third goal is to be referred
by that customer to other potential customers.
The company and sales people’s purpose and goals are:
“Get the customer to buy your product/service,
buy again,
and bring his friends to buy.”
Develop a team of customers who support you
The most powerful sales
and marketing tool on the market today
is word of mouth marketing.
85% of the reasons a person buys any product/service is
because someone said it was a good choice.
People are often greatly influenced
by the opinions of others,
especially those of those they know,
like,
admire,
and respect.
Michael Jordan was paid $15 million a year
just to wear a pair of Nike shoes called Air Jordans.
Everyone goes to the store
and pays hundreds of dollars
to get those shoes because of the credibility that comes with it,
just because Michael Jordan wears it.
If your friends call you and tell you
that they have just purchased an item,
after carefully examining the arguments for and against,
and they are very pleased
with the results that it has,
bring,
you will immediately want to buy it for yourself.
If a friend of yours tells you
about a great restaurant,
you’ll want to go to that restaurant right away.
“To earn the respect (and eventually love) of your customers,
you first have to respect those customers.
That is why Golden Rule behavior is embraced
by most of the winning companies.” – Colleen Barrett
Word of mouth marketing is a powerful tool.
That’s why your first goal in sales,
the highest you can ever hope to achieve,
is to get the customer to sell to you.
This is called “customer support”.
You achieve this goal
by taking such good care of your customers
that they want their friends
and community members
to enjoy the same great experiences
they enjoyed by purchasing
and using your product.
They also want to be reciprocated
for what you have done for them.
The key to gaining customer support,
to spreading sales by word of mouth,
is not only having perfect products,
but also having perfect customer service.
In the PIMS (Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy) studies,
researchers have found that the quality of the product,
a determinant of customers’ continued purchase
by a supplier’s product,
judged by the product itself
and the services involved
in the delivery of the product to the customer.
Related services also include how the customer is
to be treated after the transaction has been completed.
The combination of these two factors,
the product and the service,
determines the overall impression that the product
and the company create with the customers.
“Your future prospects resemble your best customers,
and that’s the place you should start.” – Holger Schulze
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Fast customer service
One of the most important variables in impeccable customer service is speed.
Customers today,
at all levels,
have a “need for speed”.
Because of the halo effect
– asserting
that if you have one positive quality,
you create an aura that makes customers believe
you have a lot of other positive qualities
– speed can be beneficial.
A competitive edge makes
it easy for you to outshine your competitors.
When a company takes care of us quickly and efficiently,
we automatically assume
that it is better than a company
that responds slowly
to our needs in all areas.
We assume that the company
that works quickly
and efficiently also has a better quality product.
They have better people.
The product/service is actually more valuable than the competition,
the slower serving companies.
They have better people on all levels.
Customers are sometimes more enthusiastic about you just
because you take care of them faster
when they have a problem
or need that needs to be satisfied.
Therefore, acting quickly on complaints is vital
to business success.
Studies have shown that if a customer complains,
as many will,
in terms of timing,
the speed
with which you resolve the customer complaint
will determine the future
of your relationship with the customer
by that customer.
If you quickly resolve a complaint
and make the customer happy,
the customer will be more loyal to you,
and speak about you more respectfully,
than if you responded to the complaint promptly by slow way
and solve it in a week or two.
Due to the complexity of modern products/services,
there will always be problems
and shortcomings
that make customers feel anxious.
It is normal,
completely natural and inevitable.
The only factor within your control
is the speed at which customer complaints are resolved
when they arise present anger.
When you resolve complaints quickly,
you keep your customers happy.
And satisfied customers will be the ones
to buy your product again
and recommend it to their friends.
“You can’t propose a mutually beneficial business relationship
if you can’t understand their business.” – Craig Rosenberg
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Keep in touch with customers
Once you have sold a product / service,
it is extremely important to keep in touch
with customers on a regular basis.
Customers feel great
when you contact them
with a thank you card or email,
phone calls to make sure
they don’t have any questions,
and visit often.
These actions make them feel valued, important,
and appreciated.
When you intentionally do
and say things that make your customers happy in their decision
to buy from you
instead of any other supplier,
you are “tying them to you with a steel ring”.
You make them more loyal
and devoted to you
and more willing to recommend you
to their friends.
One of the things we’ve suggested for
our customers to do is,
at the beginning of each year,
to call back all of our customers
who’ve made a purchase
within the last 24 months and ask them:
“What do we do now?
Can I help or serve you?
Do you have any problems or concerns
with the product/service we sold you last year?”
When salespeople make these callbacks,
especially at the beginning of the year
or the beginning of a sales period,
they’re amazed at the response they get.
Those positive feedback can turn into a series of
sales-oriented conversations
to make more sales.
The negative feedback
they receive creates many opportunities to serve
and delight customers quickly,
building loyalty and dedication.
How you phrase your customer service questions
is extremely important.
If you ask, “Is everything all right?”,
the customer will often answer,
“Yes, all right!”
When a customer says,
“All right,” it usually means
that they are not very satisfied
with your product/service for certain reasons,
but they don’t want to have to argue with you.
It usually means they already have a plan to switch
to a competitor’s product/service
at the end of using your current product/service.
They are preparing to leave.
So instead, ask,
“How can we improve your service next time?”
The word that has magical meaning here is next time.
Whenever you ask a customer
how you can serve them better next time,
in the future, they will always have one
or more suggestions.
Those will often be their real complaints
or concerns.
If you can address these complaints immediately,
you can build in them a higher level of loyalty than before.
Never ask: “Is everything all right?”
but always ask:
“How can we have better service
with you next time?
How can we improve our service
to you in the future?
Is there anything we can do in the future
to take better care of you?”
“You know you are running a modern sales team
when selling feels more like the relationship
between a doctor and a patient
and less like a relationship
between a salesperson and a prospect…
It’s no longer about interrupting,
pitching and closing.
It is about listening,
diagnosing and prescribing.” – Mark Roberge
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Just by introduction
The success of your customer service depends largely
on the ratio of the number
of deals you make through resells and referrals
to the number of outright new deals.
The most successful companies have a long-term goal
to work for “just by being referred”.
They try to take care of their customers
so well that once a customer has decided
to buy and use their products/services,
that customer will not only become a loyal customer,
but also a willing customer.
Refer friends and colleagues to buy that product/service.
Here is an exercise for you.
Imagine that you can’t find another customer.
You cannot go out
and contact new people to make an offer.
Instead, you grow all of your new business on referrals
– from calling past clients,
giving them great care,
and getting them referred to new clients.
A new customer.
One of my clients made huge sales
at a time of great economic growth.
Vendors are encouraged
to sell but have little incentive
to take care of their customers
after the transaction has been completed.
They transfer customers to the company
and default customer care is the company’s,
not theirs.
Although they sold a lot of products,
they started to receive a lot of complaints from customers.
The fact that salespeople abandon customers immediately
after completing the transaction,
“swallow” a series of promises makes customers fall more
and more disillusioned.
They refuse to buy the product/service
from the seller again
and have no reason to recommend the company to others.
Some people even canceled my pre-order
and switched to a competitor’s product/service.
The management board of the company was very worried.
“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.
Unsuccessful people are always asking,’ What’s in it for me?'” – Brian Tracy
They realized that they had set up an incentive
to only pay employees
when they made a sale,
but not at all,
so that they could do good after-sales customer service.
So they decided to change the sales system
as well as the incentive structure.
At the beginning of December,
they gathered the sales force together
and issued an announcement that effective January 1,
there will be no more prospecting
or meetings or development.
Any new customers.
From that date on,
each salesperson will be asked
to meet again with customers
from a year or two ago,
make sure they are completely satisfied
with the company’s services,
and ask them to recommend the company
with their friends and relatives.
A lot of people in the sales force went crazy.
They often make a lot of money
from developing new customers.
Some of them threatened to leave the company
if the company did not continue
to let them find new customers
or they did not continue to make sales.
And some of them did.
But on January 2, the remaining members of the sales force went out
and started seeing previous customers one by one.
They will sit down with the customer
and carefully review
every detail of the product/service installation,
ensuring that the customer is completely satisfied.
When a customer raised a complaint or concern,
the salesperson promised to deal with it immediately,
and they did.
At the end of each of these customer visits,
the salesperson will ask:
“Do you know anyone
who might be interested in our product/service?”
And they were surprised
to realize that customers are the goldmines of referrals
and recommendations.
It seems every customer knows three,
five or 10, even 20,
30 other companies or customers who,
in similar situations,
can enjoy the advantages of your product/service.
“Men are rich only as they give.
He who gives great service gets great rewards.” – Elbert Hubbard
Salespeople realize
that a customer’s business card holder has more potential business opportunities
than they thought.
Over the next year,
simply by revisiting customers
who had previously purchased their products/services
and providing impeccable customer service,
they earned many valuable recommendations and referrals.
The company’s average sales grew 34% that year,
and the salespeople at
that company made more money than ever before,
compared to when they were in the old system.
“Today’s high-performing inside sales rep must have
all the best chops of yesterday’s field executive
with a heavy dose of digital selling skills
and enabling technologies added in.” – Bob Perkins
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Treat customers as if you could lose them
Imagine that you can’t find any more customers.
What will you do to keep selling?
By seeing all of your past clients again,
you may be surprised
to see a huge number of sales opportunities
that you missed.
The key to success here is
to treat every customer,
every day,
as if you were on the verge of losing a customer
to a competitor.
Imagine that every client is sitting there,
looking at the proposal of one
or even a few of your competitors
and thinking about switching to those partners
and never coming back.
If this were to happen,
especially to your most important guests,
what would you do differently in your customer service?
Many years ago,
I developed a close client relationship
with a company in Chicago.
Over the years, on my travels,
I would cautiously stop
by Chicago to visit this client,
sometimes spending a few hours
with the company’s top executives,
inviting them out to dinner
and pitching ideas and advice on how
to improve their business
with the product/service I offer.
Over the years,
they use more
and more of my company’s products.
My competitors are jealous.
They kept asking me how
I could oversell this company,
year after year.
For a long time,
I really didn’t know what to say to them.
Then, one day, at dinner with my clients,
they told me the answer.
They say, “The reason we buy so much from you,
year after year,
is because you are the only one of the suppliers who visits us regularly,
almost monthly,
even though we are knew
that he often had to go in a different direction to get to Chicago.
And by seeing him often,
we feel very comfortable with him
and would like to work with him
instead of with his competitors.”
“The best salespeople wonder what it would be like to be in the other person’s shoes.
They know they can’t play that game
unless they continually strive to train themselves in how we
as human beings communicate.” – Bob Phibbs
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Why do customers leave?
Your job is to create and keep customers.
Once you have acquired a new customer,
your goal should be to keep that customer forever
if the customer is
still using the products/services you sell.
This is the key to success in
both business and sales.
It’s like you do everything you can to get it
customer loyalty,
you should also try
to avoid doing things that,
based on research,
lead to customers leaving
and never returning.
The first reason customers stop buying from you
and go somewhere else is
because of the lack of attention of the salesperson:
they sell, transfer the customer to the company
for the company to take care of,
and then come to see the customer to next row.
During a sales conversation,
the salesperson is very friendly,
sincere,
and enthusiastic with a commitment
to providing a perfect product/service
and a good sales relationship.
But as soon as a sale is made,
the salesperson disappears
and usually never appears again.
The second reason why customers leave
is the indifference of some in the company.
The customer calls the company
with a question or concern,
and the person who speaks to the customer
is clearly not interested in the matter.
To avoid this situation,
companies must choose the best,
most helpful people sitting at the customer service desk.
Remember, humans are completely emotional.
And emotions emerge
when they interact with another person.
If customers call and meet people
who don’t care about them,
they will get annoyed
and find another partner to work with.
When experiencing indifference
in someone in your company,
customers will feel they are undervalued,
belittled,
which leads to feeling like they are being humiliated.
The experience upsets them
so much that they put down their phones and say,
“This is horrible!”
and move on to working
with your competitors – forever!
“It’s about caring enough to create value for customers.
If you get that part right,
selling is easy.” – Anthony Iannarino
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Quickly respond to customer inquiries
Another reason for customers
to leave is the irresponsibility of receiving requests
for more information or questions.
Remember we are talking about the need for speed.
If a customer calls your company
with a question
and no one calls them back
– right away
– the customer can get angry and agitated.
Imagine a customer calling you
with a question or problem to deal with
as if they were experiencing pain.
They are waiting for the company
to immediately deal with that wound.
Customers don’t call
to entertain themselves throughout the day.
They call because they have a real need
and trust the company will take care of them.
If the company does not quickly call back,
act quickly,
the wound will provoke customers to leave
and find another supplier.
“Don’t dwell on what went wrong.
Instead, focus on what to do next.
Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.” – Denis Waitley
Often the lack of accountability will reflect in some basic form.
When a potential customer has a problem,
or the company doesn’t deliver the goods as promised,
the product/service doesn’t work as expected.
The customer called to present a complaint,
and no one called them back
or offered to have the complaint resolved.
Many years ago
I did a series of leadership seminars for IBM.
From time to time,
the conference venue will change.
Because I have to travel about 3200km
to Toronto to give a speech,
it is really important for me to know exactly
which company to book the hotel or transport for me.
Due to our tight schedule,
one of the conference venues was missed.
The organizers did not send me
the exact address of the conference venue.
The evening before I arrived in Toronto,
I called from Western Canada
to the IBM office to ask where I needed to go,
and the person who answered the phone was very polite.
I told him about my dilemma and named the manager
I worked with and explained
that I needed to get the correct address
before I could board the plane.
He said, “Don’t worry.
I will handle this and call you back.”
About 15 minutes later,
the phone rang.
The man I spoke to had gathered all the information I needed.
He contacted the organizer
and got the address of the conference venue
and passed it on to me.
I thank him for that enthusiastic help.
Then I asked,
“It’s about 8:30 p.m. in Toronto,
you must be working too late.”
And I will never forget his answer.
He said: “Of course I have to work late.
I am the company security.
And I’m cleaning the office.”
Extremely surprised,
I asked him why he left his job
to find this information for me
when he was just a security guard.
“At IBM, the person who answers the phone
is responsible for solving the problem.”
So great! I still remember that affirmation:
“The person who answered the phone
was responsible for solving the problem.”
That is the attitude of a truly outstanding organization and individual.
Remember, if a customer has a complaint or concern,
a quick response helps build loyalty.
Slow responses create feelings of fear,
anger,
and can often drive customers away forever.
“Brands must become architects of community.” – Simon Mainwaring
Last question
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Grow a chain
I have endless recommendations from customers
who are satisfied with the product/service you provide.
Once you’ve made a sale,
take good care of your customers
so that they never think about buying from anyone else,
even if the company offers a much lower price
or different prices features and benefits.
Take good care of your customers
so they want their friends
and community members to experience exactly
what they are experiencing
with you and with your company.
Take good care of your customers
so that they continuously refer other potential customers
to buy your products/services,
whenever they have the opportunity.
Turn each customer into a customer supporting you.
Get them to sell to you wherever they go,
and to anyone they talk to.
After years of developing customer service strategies
for small and medium-sized companies,
Fred Reichheld, of Bain & Company,
wrote the book The Ultimate Question,
which explains one of the most important important breakthrough
in the success of a business.
What Reichheld and his colleagues found is
that you can summarize all the surveys
and interviews to determine exactly
how customers feel about a supplier with just one question:
“Based on these your experience with us,
would you recommend us to others?”
They asked clients to answer this question
by scoring on a scale of 1 to 10.
They found that customers
who answered the question by giving it a score of 9,
10 resulted in 85% of transactions completed by reselling
or selling to new customers.
Customers who score lower are those
who are not willing to refer you
to their friends
and communities,
and customers who score the lowest are those
who actively speak ill of the company.
Not only did they never buy any products/services
from the company again,
but they also told others not
to use the company’s products/services again.
Those who are willing
to refer you to another person,
risking their personal credibility and reputation,
are your most satisfied customers.
When you use this question
to align your activities with clients,
you’ll improve your customer service tremendously,
almost overnight.
Not only that,
you also quickly increase the number of recommendations
and referrals to get real potential customers and customers.
From now on,
whenever you have the opportunity
to interact with a customer,
ask that person:
“At this point,
if you rate it on a scale of 1 to 10,
you would rate our service.
How many points?”
If the customer gives you less than 9 points,
smile and say,
“Thank you so much for answering my question.
Please tell me,
in the future what can we do to get your 10?”
You will surely be surprised
to see customers pinpointing exactly
what you need to do to get a higher score.
I have taught salespeople over and over again that,
if you ask customers
for feedback on the product/service you are providing,
the customer will make you rich.
They will help you succeed and be happy.
They will tell you exactly what
you need to do to be able to sell more to them,
to sell more to potential customers.
But you have to ask them.
Whatever your client says you should do to get a higher score,
offer to do it immediately.
In a lot of cases,
it will simply require better
and faster customer service.
It will require responding to customer complaints
and grievances more quickly
and professionally.
Usually, what the customer asks
for is very reasonable
and doesn’t cost too much.
And if you do what they ask,
their loyalty to you will swell,
like mercury in a thermocouple on a hot summer day.
“Listening is not about skills
or techniques
or calculated movements or gestures.
Listening is not about what you do.
Listening is about what you intend,
what you feel,
who you are.” – Gavin Ingham
*********
Relationship selling strategy
To ensure continued resale
and referral sales,
focus on building good relationships
with credibility from the first contact
with the customer.
Ask questions,
listen attentively to the answers,
and put yourself in the shoes of a trusted advisor
in front of this potential client.
Take the time to learn everything
you can about this client so he knows you,
likes you, and trusts you more than anyone else.
Take the time to build your credibility
by demonstrating your personal
and company’s ability
to satisfy customer needs
and solve customer problems.
Develop a relationship strategy,
even before you meet the client for the first time.
Take a piece of paper
and write it down with a list of things you will do,
from the first meeting on,
to ensure that the client stays happy,
satisfied,
and has a good feeling about them,
you are ready to introduce you with others.
Remember, it only takes you 1/15 of the time,
energy,
and expense you need to make those random calls
or to a guest you attract through regular prospecting,
to sold to a referred customer.
Serve your customers better than anyone else.
Constantly asking:
“How can we serve you better?
How can we improve our service
with you in the future?”
And no matter what the customer says,
always respond with:
“We’ll fix this right away!”
Whenever you commit to working always,
quickly, and instantly for your customers,
you build trust and credibility with them.
You make customers happy,
so they will decide
to buy your product/service over anyone else’s.
Developing a customer service
and sales strategy can help you get
and keep that customer for a lifetime.
This is the foundation of an outstanding sales career
and the foundation of long-term business success.
Some say that there must be a better rule
than the Golden Rule for living productively,
but no one has discovered it yet.
The Golden Rule states:
“Do to others what you would like them to do to you.”
In sales and business,
the application of this rule is quite simple:
“Treat the customer the way you would want them
to treat you if the two of you switched roles.”
In the simplest terms,
the Golden Rule
is the reason for business success.
It is also the reason for success in career,
happiness in personal life,
success in family life.
When you practice the Golden Rule
with your prospects
and customers,
you’ll probably never make a mistake again.
This approach to serving customers is not accidental.
It requires you to carefully plan,
discuss,
match,
and train all of your customer contacts.
Those who go above
and beyond required to satisfy
and satisfy the needs of their customers need
to be rewarded and recognized.
All successful salespeople
and businesses are known
for their good manners with their customers.
That should also be your goal.
“To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection
we are able to attain in the art of conversation.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Chapter 4 has given you detailed steps
to build a relationship,
including important aspects of customer psychology
that you need to remember to keep the relationship
after the transaction is closed.
Perhaps the most important rule in sales
is “sell your prospect
what you would want to buy
if he were in their shoes”.
Everyone has different wants,
needs and ways of communicating
and being communicated.
Take the time to find out if they are emotional
or rational.
Emotional customers will be completely captivated
by your enthusiasm,
persuasion,
and personal energy.
Rational customers will want you to convince them
with proven evidence,
certificates,
and numbers.
Listen to their questions and comments
and be prepared to tailor your pitch
so you can present a situation that appeals
to both types of clients.
Do all you can to turn your customers into champions.
Sometimes, one of your customers will go to great lengths
to refer you to a new client.
The best way to encourage this behavior is
to reciprocate their enthusiasm.
Instead of sitting around waiting for your client to move on,
find a way to showcase your work
to your best clients.
Referring the job to someone else will add an amount
to the column included in your “reciprocity account”.
Your account in this bank will always be in balance
with the benefits you get from new business deals.”
“If you are not taking care of your customer,
your competitor will.” – Bob Hooey
**************
ACTION EXERCISES
Here are some exercises and questions
that you can use to get more resells and referrals.
List three actions you can take with every customer
to increase the likelihood that a customer
will buy your product/service again.
Why are the second and third sales
so much more important than the first sale?
Why is it easier and more profitable to resell
and sell through referrals than to find new leads and customers?
Why is word of mouth marketing so important in sales today?
How can you increase the number
of customers you get from referrals?
What are the three reasons
why customers leave?
How can you serve your customers so well
that they buy your product/service over and over again?
Finally, if there was one action
you would take immediately after
what you learned in this chapter,
what would you do?
