Tweet

Held Back Sales and Marketing

Guest post by: Hussain Zaidi

Article Overview: The best sales and marketing is less about promoting and more about holding back. Stimulate interaction by giving your customer some of what they ask for while delivering a complete experience in successive stages

Held Back Sales and Marketing

The best sales and marketing is less about promoting and more aboutholding back.

As strange as it sounds, in order to keep a customerengaged- especially early on as you strive to build arelationshipandtrust- the best thing to do is tonotgive them what they want. Instead, stimulateinteractionby giving your customersomeof what they ask for while delivering a complete experience in successive stages.

Your goal is to engage your customer in a number of ongoingconversationsandinteractionsinstead of just one and you do this by providingbreadcrumbsfor them to follow you down the path of mutual benefit. To that end, here areDon'tsandDo'sfor engaging in what I call ”Held Back" Sales and Marketing:

Don'ts

(1) Don't talk about your product...unless you have no other option! Bad sales and marketing is about incessantly pitching your product. Good sales and marketing is about uncoveringneedand developingrelationships

(2) Don't answer every question:There are 2 problems with answering every question a customer asks. First, it gives them control of the conversation. Second, if they have all their questions answered they no longer need you. Instead, createsuspenseandnext steps

(3) Don't provide all information:This follows from point (2) and is also contrary to traditional sales and marketing approaches. The fact is that if you provide a customer will all the information they are looking for - especially in a complex, multi-step sale – then they often go off and make their mind up by themselves

(4) Don't suggest solutions:Going back to point (1) we need to keep in mind to let customers “discover” the solution by themselves – your solution. Your job is to listen and laybreadcrumbsbased on what they are saying. Try not to jump ahead but instead lead the way

Do's

(1) Do engage and listen:If there is one thing that most sales and marketing professionals are not as good at as they should be, it islistening. We like to proclaim and explain whereas we should rather develop a talent for creating and managingdiscussionswith customers

(2) Do ask questions:Remember that a person asking the questions and listening is the one incontrolof the conversation. Rather than give in to the temptation to lapse into sales-and-marketing-speak, use thoughtful pauses in the conversation to ask more questions

(3) Do build trust and rapport:A common misconception in sales and marketing is that your job is to talk about your company, products and services. While this certainly is theendpointof a customer discussion, the starting point is building arelationship

(4) Do book the next step:Once you have built sufficientcredibilitywith the customer through your professionalempathyyou may take on the role ofguide. Your job is to engage customers on a journey, step by step, to a mutually beneficial desired outcome

Rather than trying to push customers forward, hold back and create a sales and marketing "pull" instead!

Related Articles
  Strategic Commitments To Build Trust With Clients According to Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Does Power Corrupt
  Family Businesses Face Unique Challenges: What Makes Them Different?
  5 Things Your Sales Force Can Do to Thrive in this Economy
  How To Hold Sales People More Accountable
  Has Your Sales Force Lost Their Passion
  An open letter to my competition
  How Many Affiliate Marketing Seminars Have You Attended?
  The Need for Touch
  360 Degree Appraisals
  Sometimes Ya’ Gotta’ Hustle
  Do You Make It Easy For People To Buy From You
  Sao Paulo - The City Of Love Dance and Music
  Plan Set Goal Organize More Organizing Back to the Vision Feed the Funnel
  The Glass Ceiling Effect In Selling
  Sales and Marketing - Yin and Yang, or Oil and Water?
  A Woman\'s Edge In Sales
  Toronto Real Estate Trend and Market – What is the Current Outlook?
  Increase Sales by Removing the Chains of Emotional Bondage
  I Dont Want To Be Sold I Want To Buy

Article Tags: business, customers, sales and marketing



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
niche forum categories - I think Kevin just touched on the point that I was going make... and that is developing 'categories' that stick. Sales and Marketing may be too broad for example. However I can almost guarantee you that you would see many more sign-ups if you tailored a category to 'internet marketing' for newbies. I've seen this work on other forums, however, [i:1i903wkn]it can get a little frantic[/i:1i903wkn]... Fine tuning the categories, or expanding the scope should be effective. I think a lot of IM folks are surfing right on by because they're not finding what they're looking for here... Just a few thoughts: Better Blogging Developing Info Products Internet Marketing Presentation Skills More How to's Another point is... a lot of people don't know that they can benefit from participating in forums. The signature links to their site - if they have one - can / should be motivation enough to get more involved. The more internet savvy members that have signatures seem to stick around more... Don't you think?
Different Hats - CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company Strategic Vision 10 Alliances & Growth Strategies 10 Hiring & Managing People 8 Mentoring 8-9 Strategic Planning for Clients 10 Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty) Financial Management 9 Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0 Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff) Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!) Speaking 10 (so I have been told) Self Promotion 9-10 Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+) Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have) Great topic Kevin!! Jude
Any ideas for potential partner sites? - Hi Everyone, I was wondering if any of you have any ideas on "potential partner sites" for our specific forum categories? For instance, is there a leading "Women Entrepreneur" or "Sales/Marketing" site you know of that doesn't have an existing online community of its own? This could be a great way to help us attract more traffic. Thanks


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Why Use an Advertising Agency

Angel Investors Where Are You?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.