Wednesday 28 August 2013

Should You?

When single - one is often in the pursuit of a relationship.  It is seldom you strike a situation where you are prepared to ask someone to marry you on the first date.  And, if you are one that does, it is even more seldom that this relationship lasts.  Sure, you may be lucky - but more often the not you won't be.

You spend some time assessing whether they are right for you.

Sales isn't much different - it is a relationship after all.  You court your client in a manner not unlike a personal relationship - not just to see if you could do business with them, but also to see if you should.

It is the should aspect that is important.  Often we can pursue a business relationship with someone (or personal) - but this doesn't always mean we should.

The purpose of talking with a client through the 'courtship' process helps you determine how well you fit together:
  • Is there mutual trust?
  • Are your values aligned and to what degree?
  • Are they similarly minded to you?
  • Do you compliment one another - is there mutual benefit to the relationship?
  •  Are you heading in the same direction?
  • and a myriad of other factors
See the synonym's with a personal relationship?  Are they that different (parking any physical aspects of course)?

Should means you have determined that they are an ideal client of yours, you want to work with them and the reciprocal is true for them.  This determines a long term, mutually beneficial relationship.

Some times, you could actually sell them something.  If your business is transactional, you may get away with this.  But if you are in a sales relationship with them over time - you could be buying you and them a problem.  Often, we are thrust in to sales relationships with clients by a variety of factors (we inherit them, we grab any client during low periods, they come to us and we are spellbound by the sales opportunity, etc) - whilst this can generate an immediate benefit through a sale - if mismatched, it can derail at a later date and do more damage than the benefit you received.

Yes, sometimes this means you walk away from a sale (or conclude it at a later date), but looking for the right clients is a skill you eventually learn painfully. 

Next time, instead of asking could I do business with them, ask should I do business with them!

 Refer:   Where is Your Pyrite
To help determine what you ideal client should look like...


Friday 9 August 2013

Who's To Blame?



A good sports person reviews their performance after the event.  They are looking for a constructive criticism of their performance to reduce or eliminate their shortcomings and accentuate their strengths.  When they sit there, they aren’t using the excuses of ‘he bowled to fast’ or ‘the other driver had a faster car’.  Sure, these are sometimes factors, but not ones they can influence.

Some sales don’t go our way – sometimes there is a real reason why the client didn’t proceed with your offer.  Often in sales though, it is easier to blame our clients for why things didn’t follow the path we wanted.  They were too focused on price; they are wedded to their current supplier; they were just using us for leverage and the list goes on.

A good sales person realises most of the reasons are a by product of them and their process – not those of the client.  It is just easier for some of us to blame the client than address the real challenge.

For example – some clients are unashamedly focused on price.  But are you comfortable you showed them that sometimes paying the same or a higher price is actually in their interests if they get more value for it or did you just fall foul of racing to the bottom on price as well?  Did you demonstrate your value to the client to justify your price?

Often the issue is, unfortunately, just you as a sales person.  You didn’t connect with them interpersonally, you didn’t have the knowledge base (or didn’t show it) to convince the client you’re an asset to work with, you didn’t invest enough time in knowing and building trust with the client before asking for business, you were mismatched with the client.   

Healthy self criticism and reflection are important aspects of sales.  Whether you win or lose – you need to review what happened and why.

We don’t get it right all the time – but next time you reflect on a lost sale, make sure you ask yourself who’s truly to blame?