Stop Selling!... Build relationships!

What makes a sales call a success or failure?
Are there secrets to sales success?

With today's economic conditions, there's not much "low hanging fruit" to be picked.  In today's economy, relationships count more than ever.  Only the truly professional salespeople have survived over the past few years.  

If you look at your industry, there are probably enough people still wanting to buy your product or service to keep you busy all year long.  Your challenge is, how do you increase your market share or what I like to say get your "unfair share"?

Sales are tougher to generate in a bad economy than a good one.  Nevertheless, why does it seem that some salespeople seem to do well in all types of environments?  When the economy is good, it's relatively easy for even bad salespeople to make a living.  In a good economy, often, salespeople make sales by just contacting a high volume of prospects without developing any relationships.  There is so much "low hanging fruit" out there that just about anyone can make a sale.  

There is a difference between the successful professional salesperson and everyone else.  When business is good, the majority of salespeople are just trying to get as much business as possible.  They are usually more "me" focused, than "client" focused.  Much of sales training emphasizes closing techniques.  The right sales approach involves building the client relationship, not just making the sale and moving on to the next prospect.

My TOP 2 secrets to sales success are:

1. STOP "closing sales" &  START "opening relationships" 
2. DON'T "sell" your clients, HELP them "buy"

OPEN RELATIONSHIPS... BE CLIENT-FOCUSED

Unfortunately, if you don't have a relationship it is very hard to penetrate your prospect's trust to get them to open up to you.  Just think about it.  How many sales calls do you get daily from salespeople trying to sell you something.  I can just imagine your response when the phone rings, "Oh boy, another salesperson trying to sell me something. Let me stop everything I'm doing to see if they have something I want to buy right now!"  If you are like me, you are trying to think of every excuse to get off the phone.

The biggest mistake salespeople make is trying to jump ahead in the sales process before we build any credibility.   We start asking questions before we have earned the right.  We need to earn the right to start a relationship before they'll want to engage in a relationship with us.  We can't expect that just because we've called, the prospect will want to develop a relationship with us.  Let alone want to do business with us.

So, how do the professional salespeople break through the clutter of all the other sales calls their prospects are bombarded with every day?   One strategy is to utilize current relationships.  Using current relationships, professional salespeople are able to get their prospect's attention, but most importantly, they gain some instant credibility in the mind of the prospect. Recommendations to prospects come from clients with which we have opened and built solid relationships.   

Professional salespeople are always "client" focused.   They understand that their client is thinking WIIFM or "what's in it for ME".   When you focus on opening relationships, you'll always be client-focused.

DON'T JUST SELL... HELP THEM BUY
Once you have opened the relationship and gained credibility, you can really begin to engage people.  Professional salespeople understand that people do not like to be sold, but they love to buy.  ActionCOACH's definition of a salesperson is "Professionally Helping People to Buy". 

How can you tell if you are selling someone or helping him or her buy?

The answer is quite simple.  When you meet with potential clients, are you "telling" or "asking"?  The professional salesperson's secret weapon is questions.  ASK open-ended, needs-based questions.  Find out...  

• What is the client trying to accomplish?  
• What features are most important to the client?  
• How can your product or service help the client?  

When you are asking questions, you are building the relationship!

Find out what you can do for your client and make sure he or she knows WIIFM or "what's in it for me".  By asking questions to determine needs and showing benefits, you build up each client relationship.  As you open more relationships and build each one, you gain more credibility.  As you gain more credibility, you create even more relationships.  

That's why there are two secrets to sales success.  You cannot have one without the other.  A professional salesperson must continually open new relationships and nurture those relationships by helping clients.  Follow the two secrets and your credibility in your industry is sure to increase, helping you make even more connections with new prospects.  

So, how do we break the barrier to get through to these prospects and get them to want to engage with us over everyone else trying to get a piece of their limited and precious time?  We need to first create curiosity.  Make the prospective clients want to know more by building our relationship with them.  Don't forget to ask questions and show what's in it for them.  Let's face it-- if we can't get them to want to engage with us, the chances are slim that we are going to make a sale.