Knowing as much as possible about your prospects and customers, is as important as knowing everything about your own product or service. When you have as much information as possible about your prospects and customers, you are equipped to explore and discover, how well your product or service will fit their requirements. In other words you are already in the process of closing the sale or should I rather say, building a long term sustainable, mutually beneficial sales relationship with the perfect person, who needs exactly what you offer, from the moment you identify them as a perfect fit for your value proposition.
Sales is never about Transactions – It is about people
Forget about closing single transactions with your customers. Rather focus on building a relationship, based on fair exchange with them. When you work with people who need what you sell and you are completely committed to ensuring that you continually add real value to the relationship, “Getting the Order” becomes simple and almost effortless.
Know what you prospects or customers “REALY” want
Obviously your prospect or customer must have a need for your product or service or it must provide them with a specific solution to a challenge they have. The obvious need you customers have is only half the battle though. The way to turn your customers into raving fans, where they will edify you with everyone they know, who needs what you sell, is by delving a little deeper and discovering that something else on a deeper level, which they may also need.
Things like recognition, respect, service, reliability, concern, support, feelings of self-importance, friendship, help etc. All the things, which make us, feel noticed, appreciated and the things, which make us, feel human. Remember that people always buy with their emotions, seldom, if ever by using their logic. Add real value to people, provide them with the perfect product and or service and closing sales becomes as simple as asking for the order.
Build a plan for each Customer or Prospect
Carefully research each customer and keep a journal for each one. Strive to discover as many ways as possible to make your clients feel important and to ensure that all their needs are catered for. When you customise a plan for each customer, you become a precision sales professional, you get to understand exactly what each customer needs and you are thus able to provide exactly that to them.
Once you fully understand each customer, you have created a loyalty connection, which becomes very difficult or impossible to break. When you are connecting with your customers with this level of precision, you will have a whole new team of sales people, namely your very satisfied customers, singing your praises to everyone they know. They will make prospecting very simple and acquiring new customers will also become effortless.
You can obviously not put this much effort into every customer, but as a rule of thumb, as you know, 20 % of your customers give you 80 % of your business. Your top 20 % are obviously the customers, you will focus on providing precision selling or should I rather say “PRECISION HELPING” to.
Really get to know your Customer
Building long term relationships with customers is about getting to know them really well. Uncover their special interests or characteristics and you will always have a wonderful tool at your disposal to make contact with them and build a sustainable, long term relationship with them. You can most certainly not speak business with them all the time and expect to build a relationship with them.
Listen and Learn
Building relationships with your customers is all about listening, noting and learning as much as possible about them, so that you can get to connect with them on a level other than on a business level.
The information you will glean will help you to transform the relationship and move it to a deeper and more genuine level. During every interaction with your customer, pay attention, be authentic and sincere. Remember to record as much business and personal information as possible, in your customer journal, after each interaction with them. The more you get to know each customer and connect with them on a level other than business, the more irreplaceable you become.
How Likeable are you?
It is people, not specs, which are the key to closing sales. People buy from “PEOPLE”, they know, “LIKE” and trust and who offer them value. Are you likeable and do you have great people skills? If you want to close sales, it is crucial that you are sincere, authentic, genuine, easy to talk to and friendly. I know this sounds like sales 101, but I am not asking you whether you know this. I am asking you whether you are doing this every day with every customer.
A simple smile, always projecting a confident positive attitude, consistently exploring ways to add real value to your customers, along with providing a great product and service, which meets or exceeds expectations, is all that is required to close every sale, or should I rather say, develop long term mutually beneficial relationships, with people you care about.
Andrew Horton is one of South Africa's top sales training experts. He will support, uplift and inspire sales professionals to explore the limits of their potential and awaken the sales giants, which resides within all of them. His sales training presentation is aimed at inspiring sales professionals, helping them to become re-energised and eager to achieve their sales targets. The sales tools and powerful tried and tested practical sales techniques, they will be introduced to during his presentation, will help any sales professional to immediately up their game and to become a real sales giant, within their markets. Visit my website at http://www.andrewhorton.co.za/sales-training