Salespeople cannot be in front of their customers as often as they would like. Great salespeople though are strategic enough to see to it that even if they are absent for weeks, or even months at a time, their presence is well felt. To do this, the strategic salesperson will use the personal client contact approach. They gather all types of personal, professional and ‘other’ information from their clients. By ‘other’, I mean coming to understand and know their clients’ attitudes, values and beliefs. The information is then deliberately ‘stockpiled’ and the salesperson acts on it from time to time. This provides an opportunity for further contact and builds client loyalty and goodwill. This is one aspect of what I call, ‘Developing a Client Relationship by Design Instead of by Default.’
1) Show an Attitude of Gratitude – The first way to show gratitude is simply to send a letter saying so! Whenever I get a ‘thank you’ letter, note or email, I feel a warm fuzzy feeling. What a pleasant response to have your clients ‘anchor’ to you.
2) Send a Gift – Up the ante’ and send a ‘Thank You’ note PLUS a gift. A gift doesn’t have to be expensive, just thoughtful. A copied article or a magazine will do. This way, you not only express gratitude with your words, you support it with action.
3) Cyber-Connect – Ask your clients if you can email them from time to time and include a website address that supports some interest or need of theirs. However, make it personal and pertinent – no one wants more junk mail.
4) Questions Are the Answer, Aren’t They? – Ask your client these three connecting questions:
– What one thing do you want me to KEEP doing?
– What one thing do you want me to STOP doing?
– What one thing do you want me to START doing?
After the answer to each question say, “What one other…”
We use “What one thing…” because it does not cause the customer’s mind to go blank. If we say to our children, “What did you learn at school today?”, they usually respond with, “Nothing.” If however, we say, “What one thing did you learn at school today?”, then they don’t have to sort data and the thinking process does not collapse. Don’t ask these questions of your clients (or your children!) unless you are fully prepared to listen to their response and take any action that may be required!
5) Send Impromptu Cards – Sometimes if I read a very funny (not risqué!) card I’ll send it to a client that I think will find it amusing, with a note, “As I read this, I immediately thought of you!”
6) Give them leads – As you go through your day, there might be an opportunity to notice how one client could use another client’s product or service.
7) Loyalty Moments – These are the spontaneous occasions in the moment when you stop what you are doing and look a customer in the eye and say, “Good idea. I never say it that way…” or “I’d like to take a moment to let you know I appreciate your trust in me.” The second comment is very effective because “Thank you for your business” is quite commonplace. For the client to give you business it means they trust you. Let’s call it like it is and take the connection one step higher.
8) A Promise Made is a Debt Unpaid – Salespeople people who make promises to their customers and do not keep them will not be trusted. I designed a special page for my time management system called ‘Promises Made’. When the promise is kept I erase it and smile to myself, knowing that keeping my word not only upholds my clients’ opinion of me, but it also upholds my opinion of myself!
9) Don’t Waste Your Client’s Time – Push too hard or don’t push at all – a client recently told me that most salespeople fall into one or the other of these categories. And the category she dislikes the most is the latter where she has a soft salesperson who doesn’t ask for the order. The client must then do the work of asking the sales rep to supply the product or service. This not only creates apprehension about the salesperson’s ability to perform other aspects of the job, but if you beat around the bush and don’t get around to closing you are probably wasting your clients time.
You have probably heard, “A client won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!” By practicing these nine steps your clients will be clear on how you care about them. Once you have developed ‘A Relationship by Design Instead of by Default’, you will also have ‘A Successful Business by Design Instead of By Default.’
Alice Wheaton, BScN, M.A., Ed., of Alice Wheaton & Associates is a professional business development & cold calling specialist. For information on her workshop, ‘How to Overcome the Fear of Cold Calling’, contact 403.249.5853 email: awheaton@home.com or visit her website: www.coldcalling.net
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