Be A Friend To Make A Sale!
| Category: Selling Techniques | Date: 2003-06-09 |
Every sales interaction, whether in person or virtually from your web page, should begin and end on a personal
note. The customer and the sales (or marketing) person should begin and end their relationship as two "human
beings" building towards a goal that is mutually beneficial, not as buyer vs. seller, but as friend to friend. This is called "building a professional relationship". Your customer is not, and can never be just another sale. Take the extra time to build a "Professional Relationship" and ultimately a "Professional Friendship".
There is no rule that states you must remain only as buyer and seller. The sign of a true marketing
professional is the ability to serve successfully as an "Ambassador" of your company or product. As a
successful marketer you required to have Sensitivity, Tact, Diplomacy and most of all "Sincerity". There is
nothing easier for a customer to pick up on, than a salesperson making believe that they are sincere when
they are obviously not. It requires more than dry, tasteless questions of the family's health and talk about the weather. If you have not yet fully discovered the benefits of building "Professional Friendships", you are blindly passing by a waiting pool of prospects and possibly life-long friendships.
Being a Professional Friend might mean making a few extra calls or sending extra email to see if they are
happy with your product or to see how their business is progressing. It may be an offer of counseling with a
business problem. But do it "without" the sole intention of making another sell. People will respond
to your caring and consideration, and come to think of you as a friend who cares. Therefore, they are more
likely to make their next purchase from you, a professional they have come to trust ... a friend.
Never Leave Your Friend Behind!
It is a very important principle in sales and marketing that there be a pleasant beginning and an even more
pleasant finale to a professional relationship or friendship. The old saying, "Don't Burn Your Bridges
Behind You" comes to mind. Many sales professionals seem a little too eager to dissolve such relationships
because the customer stops buying.
Right away, they move on to, or focus on the next customer. Their conversation becomes dead and their manner ill or formal. Apparently they are thinking to themselves, "No more orders from this person". There
may even be a formal thank you and a polite goodbye.
Don't cut your own throat by traveling down this road. I myself have stopped doing business with certain people and businesses primarily because of their attitude towards me because of one lost sale and how I was treated because of that one loss.
If you have suddenly lost interest in people they become keenly aware of this fact and will often take it personally. They may think to themselves, "Well, if that's the way they feel because I wasn't interested this time.........". People are not pleased with formal and distant attitudes after any type of relationship has been formed. I know I'm not! How about you?
An Award For Congeniality!
A sales professional must learn to make themselves likeable. They must be congenial. It's a magnetism of
their personality traits they were either born with or developed through years of (professional, formal or self) training. This attractiveness or congeniality,whatever we may call it, is one of the most valuable attributes that any professional dealing with clients can possess.
It is a curious fact that few technical people possess this power of attracting people. That is why "techies"
seldom succeed as sales professionals. They rely solely on the facts and their technical knowledge. They treat
all customers alike. In fact most have an underlying contempt for their customers ignorance of a product or
subject, which some of them do not even bother to conceal. Most often it takes great effort and practice for techs to become successful marketing pros.
Personal Capital
The fact is that a salesperson's best asset is the goodwill of their customers. If you have built up a reputation for honesty, courtesy, knowledge and reliability, you have acquired real "personal capital". No one can take this away from you. No thief can steal it. No one but "You" can destroy it. Protect it and build on it!
In Closing:
A true measure of success is the number of friends that you have acquired, in both your business and personal
life. Always strive to make new friends; it's the secret of good management and of a great marketer. It's a sure fire way to make your business succeed.
MAKE FRIENDS: YOUR SALES WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES AND YOU WILL NEVER LACK CUSTOMERS.
The aim of every company should be permanent patrons, not people who buy once and never again. New customers are far more costly (in the way of advertising or the work of canvassing for them) than the time it takes to be a friend.
About the author.
Adios My Friends
"Wild Bill"
beafriend@greatdesignz.com
http://www,greatdesignz.com
note. The customer and the sales (or marketing) person should begin and end their relationship as two "human
beings" building towards a goal that is mutually beneficial, not as buyer vs. seller, but as friend to friend. This is called "building a professional relationship". Your customer is not, and can never be just another sale. Take the extra time to build a "Professional Relationship" and ultimately a "Professional Friendship".
There is no rule that states you must remain only as buyer and seller. The sign of a true marketing
professional is the ability to serve successfully as an "Ambassador" of your company or product. As a
successful marketer you required to have Sensitivity, Tact, Diplomacy and most of all "Sincerity". There is
nothing easier for a customer to pick up on, than a salesperson making believe that they are sincere when
they are obviously not. It requires more than dry, tasteless questions of the family's health and talk about the weather. If you have not yet fully discovered the benefits of building "Professional Friendships", you are blindly passing by a waiting pool of prospects and possibly life-long friendships.
Being a Professional Friend might mean making a few extra calls or sending extra email to see if they are
happy with your product or to see how their business is progressing. It may be an offer of counseling with a
business problem. But do it "without" the sole intention of making another sell. People will respond
to your caring and consideration, and come to think of you as a friend who cares. Therefore, they are more
likely to make their next purchase from you, a professional they have come to trust ... a friend.
Never Leave Your Friend Behind!
It is a very important principle in sales and marketing that there be a pleasant beginning and an even more
pleasant finale to a professional relationship or friendship. The old saying, "Don't Burn Your Bridges
Behind You" comes to mind. Many sales professionals seem a little too eager to dissolve such relationships
because the customer stops buying.
Right away, they move on to, or focus on the next customer. Their conversation becomes dead and their manner ill or formal. Apparently they are thinking to themselves, "No more orders from this person". There
may even be a formal thank you and a polite goodbye.
Don't cut your own throat by traveling down this road. I myself have stopped doing business with certain people and businesses primarily because of their attitude towards me because of one lost sale and how I was treated because of that one loss.
If you have suddenly lost interest in people they become keenly aware of this fact and will often take it personally. They may think to themselves, "Well, if that's the way they feel because I wasn't interested this time.........". People are not pleased with formal and distant attitudes after any type of relationship has been formed. I know I'm not! How about you?
An Award For Congeniality!
A sales professional must learn to make themselves likeable. They must be congenial. It's a magnetism of
their personality traits they were either born with or developed through years of (professional, formal or self) training. This attractiveness or congeniality,whatever we may call it, is one of the most valuable attributes that any professional dealing with clients can possess.
It is a curious fact that few technical people possess this power of attracting people. That is why "techies"
seldom succeed as sales professionals. They rely solely on the facts and their technical knowledge. They treat
all customers alike. In fact most have an underlying contempt for their customers ignorance of a product or
subject, which some of them do not even bother to conceal. Most often it takes great effort and practice for techs to become successful marketing pros.
Personal Capital
The fact is that a salesperson's best asset is the goodwill of their customers. If you have built up a reputation for honesty, courtesy, knowledge and reliability, you have acquired real "personal capital". No one can take this away from you. No thief can steal it. No one but "You" can destroy it. Protect it and build on it!
In Closing:
A true measure of success is the number of friends that you have acquired, in both your business and personal
life. Always strive to make new friends; it's the secret of good management and of a great marketer. It's a sure fire way to make your business succeed.
MAKE FRIENDS: YOUR SALES WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES AND YOU WILL NEVER LACK CUSTOMERS.
The aim of every company should be permanent patrons, not people who buy once and never again. New customers are far more costly (in the way of advertising or the work of canvassing for them) than the time it takes to be a friend.
About the author.
Adios My Friends
"Wild Bill"
beafriend@greatdesignz.com
http://www,greatdesignz.com
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