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Tuesday, 02 January 2007 |
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Page 2 of 2 These are just a few of the ideas I have used over the years to build my business. If you try to sell people every time you see them, or every time you pay them a visit they will probably become annoyed over time. Always beware of the salesperson who understands people, or has empathy, he will build relationships most effectively. The first thing an interviewer should ask a new potential salesperson isn’t how quickly they can get sales, but if they truly care about people. Remember people buy from people they like. If you don’t get a lot of repeat business currently, there are probably 3 things going on: 1) They don’t like you, 2) Your not doing enough of the above, or 2) They don’t like your company. If your product or service is lousy you could offer trips around the world and you will not retain business for very long. If that is the case you might want to fire your employer and go elsewhere, but if that’s not the case just try some of these little things and you might be surprised at what happens.
Sometimes when I take my clients out to lunch I don’t talk about anything but them. Most salespeople love to talk and don’t know when to shut up, so make sure that when you are with a client that they are doing most of the talking. Be prepared, have information on your company, but also have an archive of your own story. Pictures of your family are always great, especially if you are out to lunch with somebody who also has a wife/spouse or kids. I was on a phone call the other day with a potential customer for my network marketing business, and I just let them talk on the phone to me for 30 minutes without me saying more than maybe 10 words. 2 or 3 times throughout the call my potential customer stopped me dead in my tracks and kept asking me what it was I was trying to sell him. It’s a great ice-breaker by just simply letting the customer or prospect do most of the talking and this one technique will set you aside from 90% of your competition. As Anthony Robbins says “Let your prospect design the presentation”. Learn to become a caring person, persist, and most importantly learn to listen and you will have no problem building relationships. It will take hard work, a ton of patience, but if you don’t quit your job, or your company doesn’t go out of business, you could quite possibly have a customer for life, and that my friend is The Sale of the Century.
John Lowery lives in Carlsbad, CA. He is a home based entrepreneur and The Business Development manager for a leading Southern California Landscape Company.
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