Don’t Make A Sale, Make A Long-Term Customer
Establishing ongoing relationships with customers enhances the long-term success of most small companies.
It’s more cost-effective and a lot less stressful to serve ongoing accounts than it is to continually search for new business.
Cash flows are more stable, and increased operational efficiencies can reduce internal costs, increasing profitability.
To secure a long-term customer, sales personnel need to “look beyond the sale.” They need to form a relationship with the customer, solving all of the customer’s needs and providing ongoing value of products and services.
The basis for establishing such a relationship is to address the five key needs of every customer. These include:
• Excellence of products and services on an ongoing basis
• Competitive pricing, assuring good value
• Top quality after-sales service and warranties
• An ongoing seamless relationship between customer and sales staff
• The need for a customer to feel smart or “right” if questioning the purchasing decisionAddressing these needs and any others pertinent to specific industries should be the basis for every sales presentation.
In fact, it can be argued that during the first sales presentation to a potential customer, sales personnel should not try for a close.
Rather, they should focus exclusively on showing why their company can satisfy the five above-mentioned needs.
Photo by cobrasoft .
Jaclyn on May 19th, 2009 8:47 am
That was great sales advice. Most people when entering a store do not like to be “sold” on anything. I hear people all too often saying “man, i hope they don’t come up to me” while entering a store, because they want a chance to at least look around before the vultures sink their claws into them. Rather, they like the employees to explain the products they are looking at, explain how that product can help their everyday life, explain how the company can help them in their everyday life rather than giving them statements such as “if you buy that today i’ll through in free delivery” or “if you buy that today, i’ll knock off $50 buck’s”.
Leave a Reply