Customers have higher expectations of the people and organizations they do business with today.
Here are four tips that will lead to a better understanding of where customers are coming from:
The No. 1 secret customers won’t share with you
There are seven words that strike fear into the heart of your salespeople.
They are: “I am happy with my present supplier.”
Some salespeople move on as soon as a prospect utters those words, accepting the idea that they can’t overcome a well-established relationship.
Relationships give competitors an unfair advantage. They simply provide competitors with far more access to prospects than other salespeople would have. From the outside, a well-established relationship can look invincible, but from the inside looking out, it may not look nearly as secure.
Here’s what prospects aren’t telling you:
Sales success starts with commitment: But to what?
Salespeople who aren’t committed may not be able to get prospects and customers committed either. There are four basic commitments salespeople must make to be successful
Do you have the No. 1 skill needed to sell today?
Today’s salespeople have to learn a variety of selling skills that weren’t even thought of 10 years ago. But despite all the changes in technology, one selling skill continues to be more important than all the others combined.
Establishing credibility is the single most important element of selling. It requires building and maintaining trust and a high degree of comfort with customers.
Keys to successful customer negotiations
Salespeople who walk away with the most deals understand that everything is negotiable. They also recognize that successful negotiation with customers is much broader than the ability to haggle over price or other terms.
What is it that creates a confident and effective negotiator? What gives a salesperson an aura of control?
There is a basic set of principles that applies to sales negotiations. They can help you go into your negotiations with a more constructive mindset.
Steps when preparing for a negotiation:
The abbreviated guide to value-added selling
Value-added selling means taking the initiative to proactively look for ways to increase the value of your products or services, as well as yourself, to the customer.
The possibilities of creating value are limitless.
For example, you could:
- deliver faster service
- educate customers on unique product/service features
- improve your delivery methods
- provide useful industry info
- further differentiate your product/services from the competition’s, and
- help customers solve problems.
Becoming a sales leader: Essential qualities that they all have
Two salespeople have comparable backgrounds. They both have solid selling skills, a good knowledge of their business and an ability to work well with others. Yet one person is simply doing a good sales job, while the other is having an impact that goes far beyond selling products and services.
5 types of decision-makers
Some decision-makers will take sides and help shape the outcome. Some will want you to win, while others will favor your competitor. And you need to know which way people are leaning so you can direct them in your favor.
Try to find where their allegiance lies and decide what you can do to bring the key decision influencers to your side.
Most decision-makers will fall into one of the following five categories:
The most dangerous time for losing customers
There’s usually a brief honeymoon period after you gain a new customer. Expectations are high for both you and the customer.
The honeymoon period is the most dangerous time in a new account relationship. When new accounts run aground, it’s not the problems that trip you up as much as their timing.
Studies show that customers expect bumps in the road at the beginning of a relationship, followed by steady improvement.
Prospects and customers want different things
“The best way to sell prospects is to treat them the same way you treat your customers now.” Some salespeople hear that message so frequently they consider it a basic selling rule. But it’s a major mistake.
Recent research shows that salespeople who treat prospects the same way they treat existing customers are committing a major sales sin.
About 70% of prospects taking part in the study said they wanted different things than existing customers look for. The survey also reported that what salespeople do to please prospects may not work for existing customers.
Bottom line: Salespeople who deliver the same presentation to prospects and customers are missing their targets.
