Despite the advice given by so many trainers that being liked by prospects is the key to sales success and to strong client relationships, the fact is that being liked by prospects and clients is well down the list of characteristics necessary to establish strong, lasting client relationships.In fact, being liked by your client isn’t even necessary.There are thousands of examples of client/seller relationships where the client doesn’t like the seller. Read More >>
Years
ago, Marcel Proust wrote: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."How do you view
yourself as a salesperson?What would
happen if you changed that perspective?
Sales
still slumping along and not where you want them to be? Maybe, you need to
change your role?
Years
ago, Marcel Proust wrote: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."How do you view
yourself as a salesperson?What would
happen if you changed that perspective?
Within
a proven and sustainable sales process, your ultimate goal is to make a
sale.To do that requires that you build
a relationship with the buyer.If you
agree that relationship selling is becoming a moniker within the sales training
world, then what do you need to build and nurture this relationship?
Possibly,
you are thinking “I knew that already” (IKTA), tell me something new. What
would happen if you stood next to your buyer instead of standing across from
your buyer?
Think
of being the assistant to the buyer? When you embrace this role, you are
gaining higher levels of commitment through the entire buying/selling process. You
are literally helping your prospect buy your products or services.Your behavior demonstrates that their best
interests are your best interests. And the outcome is a series of trial closes
that seem more like agreement statements than sales statements.
One
of the best examples is within the buying/selling process of a new or used
vehicle.We all know the sales
drill.We speak with the car salesperson
who leads us to the Finance and Insurance (FI) person and sometimes we even end
up with the general manager (GM) or owner.If you are that car salesperson, where do you stand during all these
exchanges?Are you across the table from
your potential customer or next to the FI person or GM? Do you position
yourself next to your prospect?
If
you are not seated or standing next to your prospect, then change
positions.When your customer views you
as being on their side both physically and verbally, you have elevated yourself
within their eyes.The result is that another
level of trust has been established and solidified.
By
changing how you look at your role within the buying/selling process and become
more of the assistant to the buyer, you will get closer to where you want to go
in your efforts to increase sales.
Leanne Hoagland Smith
About the author:
Leanne Haogland-Smith has over 25 years in sales. Her true joy is selling and helping clients unlock the results that they want. She holds a core belief that the majority of answers are within each individual or organization and, sometimes, people just need an outside perspective to help them discover those answers. Leanne has written more than 1000 articles on sales and process improvement. Learn more about Leanne at www.processspecialist.com