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7 Things To Avoid When Building Customer Relationships

Written by: Jim Meisenheimer

Article Overview: What do you focus on when you meet with new sales prospects? Do you concentrate on what's important or do you hurry-up and start selling? Here are seven things to avoid when building customer relationships.

7 Things To Avoid When Building Customer Relationships

Whenever you meet new sales prospects be sure to focus

on establishing rapport and building relationships. Most

salespeople overlook the importance of these two

priorities early during the selling process.

Instead of reaching for your sales brochures try

reaching out to your sales prospects by demonstrating

your interest and curiosity about their business and

their customers.

Look, most sales don't happen during the first sales

call - so why even bother to attempt closing the sale.

You'll turn more heads and build better customer

relationships if you avoid doing these seven things.

1. Avoid selling too early. Gee, why does everybody

try to sell something during the first sales call? If

it's been your experience that 95% of your sales are

never made during the first sales call - you should

carefully consider what you're doing during this first

sales call.

Just because your business card tells the world your

a professional sales representative is no reason to

start selling during the first call. It would be wiser

to use the first call to establish some credibility

and to start building a customer relationship with

your sales prospect.

2. Avoid talking too much. One of the most common

mistakes new and even veteran sales reps make is to talk

too much. Sure you were hired to sell. But where does

it say the true definition of selling begins with talking?

It doesn't begin with talking, it begins with listening.

Listening, more than anything else. It shows you're

interested in the person you're talking to. It shows

you're interested in his company. It shows you're

interested in his customers. It's easy to misinterpret

why somebody is talking too much. It's impossible to

misinterpret someone who is listen carefully to what

you're saying.

3. Avoid asking the wrong questions. Ask any sales

representative which is a better question to ask when

you want to get more information from a sales prospect,

an open question or a closed question - and the universal

response will be an open question - which of course is

the right answer.

In practice however most salespeople lead with closed

questions. For example: who is your current supplier,

what's your budget for (insert your product), how many

(insert your product) do you buy a year, I think you

get the picture.

And if that's not bad enough, how does it make you feel

to learn that almost all salespeople start with the same

questions? Well it shouldn't make you feel superior

to competitors.

4. Avoid forgetting to do the little things. One of the

quickest ways to grab a new sales prospects attention is

to do little things for him. Within 24 hours of your first

sales call you could send him an e-mail thanking him for

anything except his time - because that's what most

salespeople do.

If you are able to schedule the second meeting during

your first sales call, you could send a personal hand

written note confirming your second meeting within three

days. You could also send a general interest article

(something you think she might like to see) within seven

days and including a note that says "F.Y.I - thought you

might be interested in seeing this."

5. Avoid talking to the wrong person. The best advice

I can give any sales person is to start at the top of an

organization when you're trying to get your foot in the

door. Most salespeople do just the opposite because they

fear being rejected by the woman at the top. Most people

at the top, get to the top, because they are excellent

delegators.

Sometimes the people at the top have more time to see you

than the people they are delegating to. If you start talking

to the wrong person, a person who is not a decision-maker,

and you begin to build a relationship, it becomes extremely

difficult to wiggle your way around this person to see the

ultimate decision-maker.

6. Avoid defending your price. During my sales training

programs I usually start by asking the salespeople to tell

me about their biggest challenges. Within 10 minutes I

usually hear about the dreaded price objection. What some

salespeople don't recognize is they are so afraid of the

price objection they usually bring it up first, without

even realizing it.

You can never win the price war by defending the price.

You win by explaining the value of the products and services

you're selling. You win by changing the rules of the game.

You see most people will pay a higher price if they believe

they are getting a higher value. So always focus on the value

of doing business with you and your company.

It's even better if you can quantify your value in dollars.

7. Avoid not having an attitude of gratitude. This is a

big one. Don't be too busy to say thank you. In your daily

sales effort, there are so many people you can thank along

the way.

You can thank the receptionist for getting you into see

the decision-maker. You can thank somebody in your customer

service department for helping one of your customers. You

can thank a sales prospect for placing his first order and

becoming a new customer. You can thank your customers every

time they place a substantial order with you and your company.

You can find out how long your sales prospect or customer

has been doing the work he's currently doing and send him

an anniversary card every year. Now that would blow him

away!

You'll build stronger and longer lasting relationships

with your customers if you avoid doing these seven

things. You'll also differentiate yourself from your

competition, because they're probably doing these things.

It takes time to build a strong relationship with your

customers. It'll take you less time if you avoid making

these mistakes. It'll also take you less time if you

really get to know what your customers need and want.

Find out why your sales prospects and customers need

something and you'll soon discover why they want it.

Related Articles
  Networking – A major element of success for your business
  Building Your Client Relationships
  Trust, Abundance and Success
  Top 5 Tips For Building Business Relationships
  Why Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?

Article Tags: br, building relationships, business card, credibility, curiosity, customer relationship, establishing rapport, priorities, professional sales representative, sales brochures, sales prospect, sales prospects, sales reps, salespeople, true definition



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