Are you a Sales Director pushing the ‘get out there, be their friend, it’s all about relationships’ or if you are a sales person who is everyone’s friend…. then read on…..
If your company’s focus is on ‘Here’s your budget – take them for lunch, get to know them, that’s your job’ then pause for a moment and consider this telling story.
Working for a large corporate we were repeated told it’s all about relationships. A colleague, head hung low, limping past my desk had been summoned for loosing a million dollar deal. As he past I heard him muttering to himself ‘I was only sailing with him on Sunday’ and that probably just about summed up the company and his focus on how to get sales. Be their mates, it’s all about relationships.
If you/ or your reps seem to have lots of mates, matey conversations and potentially not a lot of substance then they need to get comfortable having conversations where the focus is on how your company is going to help that clients business grow.
So, 3 easy steps to ensure the sales person is forming the right sort of relationship where the client trust you, you’re the first they call and they see you as a person whom can help their business.
- Get them comfortable having ‘commercial conversations’ at every visit.
Key business practices: a) my job is to have commercial conversations, b) what can my business do for this client c) what is the client looking to do and how can I make that happen - Ensure your sales person has a REASON and a PURPOSE for EVERY VISIT.
This focus gets over looked if your company’s focus is on the ‘number’ of face-to-face meetings (quantity) rather than quality.The rep and the client need to know why they are both there having a meeting. What are we looking to achieve? - The Sales persons focus needs to be on the client and what the client needs to make them successful.
Most of the time the Sales person turns up and says ‘look how well our company X has done with this, ‘WE have done’ ‘WE are doing’ ‘WE can…’ blah blah, client zones out, faking interest’ it should be looking to have a constant Uncovery and Exploration of the clients business.
It’s been a while since we discussed your business. Lets explore that now so I’m up to speed on what you are focusing on, what the goals are, so I can see how we may assist.
Look out for a future post on what to do when a client becomes a friend.
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