August 27, 2009

Sales - Relationship Builders NOT Product Floggers

There are two options to consider when setting a sales philosophy for your organization. You can choose to generate revenue by selling stuff or you can choose to build intimate relationships with people and have them buy stuff.

Selling stuff equates to flogging products; the focus is on what is being produced rather than on the demand elements of the customer. Very few people like the flogging experience where a sales person tries to shove a product down your throat with little consideration for our needs and expectations. At the end of a flogging experience we generally feel used, abused and violated vowing to never return.

Building deep relationships and having people buy stuff is quite a different thing and is based on the axiom that ‘you need to make a friend before you can do business’. The sales dynamics focus on getting to know the prospect and their specific needs and expectations (in the marketing chapter of my book I delve into the notion of customer secrets and how this intimate level of customer knowledge can unlock raw marketing power that create BE DiFFERENT organizations). The Relationship Builder actually make you compelled to buy! The forces at play propel the prospective buyer along a course of action that requires a transaction; anything less conjures up the feeling of guilt given the time, effort and caring the Builder has invested in you.

Relationship building firms understand and trust that cash flow is the result of deep customer relationships; an annuity stream is established over a longer period of time with an impressive Net Present Value as compared to the short term financial benefits of the one sale wonder.

Start the move today to developing a relationship building sales team. And introduce this element in the sales compensation plan. If you are purely a flogging organization today, ad a percentage for the relationship element and begin the journey to BE DiFFERENT Sales. Begin with compensating your sales team 20% on relationship building and increase this amount over time.

How do you measure relationship building? Create a Customer Report Card with 6 key relationship building behaviors and ask the customer to rate the salesperson on each. Customer perception is reality and it will not be long before every salesperson is paying attention to what is required to be a Builder!

Here are some relationship building behaviors to consider: show honest concern for the customer, build a profile on them, be an active listener, problem solve, be the customer advocate in your organization, relentlessly follow up on customer issues and be available 24X7. Or better still do some customer research and build the Builder behavior profile for your customers specifically. Good luck!

Cheers,
Roy Osing

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Posted 8.27.09 at 06:50 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (2) | Leave a Comment