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 and seller. This is called
"building a professional relationship". Your customer
is not, and can never be just another sale. Take the
extra time to build your "Professional Relationship"
and ultimately into a "Professional Friendship".
There is no rule set down that says you must remain
only buyer and seller. The sign of a true marketing
professional is the ability to serve successfully as an
"Ambassador" of his company or product. Just as an
Ambassador, a successful marketer is required to have
sensitivity, tact 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. If you have
not yet fully discovered the benefits of building
"Professional Friendships", you are blindly passing by
a waiting pool of prospects.
Being a Professional Friend might mean making a mere
call or sending an 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 to 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 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, but 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.
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 training, formal or not.
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.
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.
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
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