It’s no new news that we are in a difficult business climate that requires making connections and building relationships more important than ever. We buy from people we know, like and trust.
Right know and for the foreseeable future, we are experiencing a business climate where people and organizations are holding on to their wallets. There is a psychological and behavioral contracting effect due to uncertainty about the future.
So marketing and making sales is more important than ever. However, the problem is that the old way of making sales by pressuring potential customers into buying may actually help you lose the sale and have unintended dire consequences.
I will give you a personal example of my attempt to buy a car where the salesperson lost a potential sale by following a prepared script. She focused on her interests and not mine.
I recently visited the local Honda Dealer with my wife and son. I had done quite a bit of research on the new CRV and wanted to test drive the vehicle and get my wife and son’s thoughts about the car. I told the saleswoman that I had no intention to buy a car that day. I had just started looking.
After the salesperson made a copy of my license which already made me a little uneasy, we all got into the car and took a test drive. I asked the salesperson a number of questions about the car and was given answers I knew not to be true. After the test drive, I honestly just wanted to leave. The salesperson insisted that we go back into the dealership and proceeded to try and make a deal. I assertively reiterated that I was not interested in buying a car and we left. Over the next few weeks, my wife and I got several calls from the salesperson. It was such a negative experience that I’m still driving my old Toyota Camry!
We all need to market and create sales especially in this tough economy. However, there is a much better way by asking permission and establishing a relationship first.
Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall in “The Contrarian Effect” offer nine contrarian principles to help you change your mindsets about sales.
1. Build relationships and make connections
2. Respect your customers and honor their wishes.
3. Target specific groups of individuals and your ideal clients.
4. Make relevant and timely offers.
5. Increase your “likeability factor”.
6. Practice radical transparency.
7. Establish yourself as a trusted advisor.
8. Collaborate with strategic partners to leverage your efforts.
9. Think bigger about who you are and what you offer your clients.
In fact, Michael Port has started a “Think Big Revolution” to help you serve your customers and clients.
Suzi Pomerantz in “Seal the Deal!” talks about reframing your belief system so that sales and business development are more about partnership and service than interrupting and bothering customers to buy your stuff. Sales is more about creating mindsets about authenticity, meaning and values, and creating relationships than merely making short-term numbers for personal gain.
Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership and sales assessments such as the BarOn EQi, CPI 260 and Sales Max can help you avert conventional sales wisdom and do the opposite. It’s more of a coach approach to help sales entrepreneurs ask permission and focus intently on the needs of the customer. You can become a more emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent at making sales, by first listening and paying attention before you and your buyer collaborate to seal the deal.
© Copyright 2011 Dr. Maynard Brusman, Working Resources
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