According to the top salesman and business advisor, Neil Franklin “If you want to really succeed in sales and selling, then you must start to play the long game and not simply look for a quick buck.”
It’s so tempting to go straight after the order and “close the sale” like a maniac just so that you can bag some quick cash.
But over the long-term, you will not build sustainable relationships.
Start by giving.
We are in challenging times and ones where businesses and people will agonize over the purchasing decisions they make and there is so much choice out there when it comes to suppliers.
Buyers are so much more informed today and can spot a hard-nosed and one-dimensional salesperson a mile away, so you have to be more strategic in your approach.
Start to engage with your customers and in today’s digitally dominated, digital entrepreneurs world you can find your target customers online.
But when you engage them on say, LinkedIn or Twitter, you must resist the urge to sell at all costs.
Try commenting on articles or posts they have written and share advice, tips and offer help if it is required and over time, you will be building one of the most important qualities that result in a healthy sales performance:
Trust.
There are many people who subscribe to the model of giving away so much information that if you really drilled down into the material, you could learn the process yourself.
One such person is Neil Patel and he is extremely happy to put in hours of work to share information on the basis that if you don’t have the time to do what he suggests, then you can use his agency who will do it for you.
How is that for building trust?
So, re-think how you work and start to engage with new customers with information, ideas and help them solve some of their problems.
For existing customers, you want to make sure that you keep them and remember that there is always someone running behind you to eat your lunch!
If you do the above in the right way, you will build a much stronger sales pipeline as you transition from the engagement process, to the selling of your own products and services.
Trust is the platform and that is quickly followed by transparency.
Be open and honest about how you and your company work…commercially.
Your goal should be to take your customer through a journey that demonstrates that you understand their business, have empathy with regard to the problems and challenges they face, plus have a solid vision for the future.
Now you have set the scene for a longer-term commercial relationship, while still taking care of the “now.”
You can read more at Neil Franklin’s guide on how to become a good salesman.