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Selling in a New Age

Guest post by: MIchael Daley

Article Overview: Most small business owners are afraid of traditional selling techniques. Today’s market requires a higher level of sophistication. Aware of this, companies are starting to lean toward a relationship model of selling.

Selling in a New Age

Many small business people have great ideas for products or services, but don't want to sell or don't know how. They've defined their target market and how to reach it, and have mastered the financial aspects of running a company. However, often missing is a clear understanding of the sales process - or the willingness and ability to initiate successful sales conversations, and not get stopped by people saying "no."

What is it about selling that makes so many entrepreneurs shudder, especially those who are the sole salesperson for their firm? Very often they are affected by preconceived notions as to what selling is (adversarial, difficult, manipulative). Or they have a strong fear of rejection - when a prospect says "no," they take it personally.

Letting these negative ideas get in the way of selling is one way to ensure your venture will fail. After all, if you don't make sales, you don't have a business, no matter how good a product you have, or how well you've done your marketing.

There is a way to sell that is positive, rewarding and enjoyable. And it helps handle that fear of rejection as well. It's called relationship selling, and is the way effective, professional salespeople have always operated. In fact, Dale Carnegie started delivering this message 78 years ago.

Relationship selling applies to any kind of business, whether retail or business-to-business, product or service. While the steps to the sales process may vary slightly for each type, the overall theme of building relationships is consistent throughout.

Traditional vs. Relationship Selling

Most of the existing negative opinions and fears about the sales process are based on a traditional, formula method: memorize 10 different ways to get an appointment, 40 kinds of closes, 20 ways to handle objections, etc. While these techniques can be very useful, they may also get in your way if used without first building a relationship with sales prospects.

When many small business people think about selling, they have a stereotypical image of the used-car salesman or the aluminum siding huckster as played by Danny DeVito in "The Tin Man." Characters such as these operate in a win/lose mode - an exchange where the seller tries to trick, persuade or coerce the customer to buy. In contrast, relationship selling is a win/win game. If the product or service being sold truly meets the needs of the buyer, both parties benefit as a result of the sale.

Today's customers have become more sophisticated and demanding of higher levels of customer service than ever before. They want someone they can trust who understands their needs and wants. This is particularly important during slow economic times, when most people make buying decisions, even small ones, very carefully.

Also keep in mind that the best sources of new business are existing customers and referrals from these customers. To help ensure the success of your venture, take the time to build relationships with your customers, rather than just focusing on making the immediate sale. Although relationship selling may take longer to produce results, it is definitely worth it in the long run. You will be well rewarded with high levels of repeat business and referrals from happy customers.

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Article Tags: customer loyalty, customers, entrepreneurs, referrals, relationship selling



Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin's Case Study #10 - When to become an entrepreneur? - When the bug bite you. A lot of successful entrepreneurs started in their teens or at school. Selling sweets to fellow students or lemonade to firends in the neighbourhood.
Re: This is Marketing Warfare! - Hey GT, I guess this was from a while back, and it'll test your memory a bit but could you possibly elaborate on Unique Selling Proposition? Can you give us some examples of good USPs?
Blog pinging - Thanks Martin - yes, I do ping and it has been very effective. I'm currently on the first page of Google for Mastermind Group and on the second page for Selling to Small Business.
Business magazines - Fast Company is pretty good if you're into technology although it can be very on the edge. Entrepreneur has become one giant advertisement and I cancelled my subscription. Selling Power also has some useful content if you're looking at improving your sales skills / presentations.
Re: Newbi here - thanks for your responses guys.. I really appreciate it. Well, I have learned from realhomebasedsuccess dot com that there are home based business opportunities and ideas that could be our option such as: -Selling Goods or Providing Services Online -Making Money through Direct Marketing -Becoming an Affiliate Marketer -Getting Paid on a Click Thru but I was thinking which is the best one and most effective in terms of generating consistent Ongoing Profits. What do you think? do you have any insights?


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