Developing Loyal Clients

Developing loyalty in your client base.  Sometimes, it can seem as far away as the next universe over.  But it doesn’t have to be, right?

Of course, we all dream of a day when prospecting is but a limited part of our days.  When the business comes to us, not the other way around.  It seems like a pipe dream much of the time.

But it doesn’t have to.

Your day, if it’s anything remotely close to mine, consists of a good amount of prospecting, with a much smaller percentage of selling to existing customers.  So how do we build up that loyalty in our existing clients?

It’s all about relationships, of course.  I came across a short blog post today citing the words of a research psychologist.

“When people feel like they’re being recognized as a human being on the other side of a transaction, as opposed to being the transaction, then they have a more positive response.”

On it’s face, that seems like a pretty simple concept.  But sit back and take a look at your daily activities.  When you call on an existing client, what is the interaction like?  Not for you… for the client…

I challenge you to take a few moments to consider that question.

Stop Worrying About The Competition

Ever feel like you’re spending more time worrying about what your competitors are doing, and not enough time working on your own planning?

Sure you do.  We all do.

What makes me better than my competitor?  How do I stand out from them?  What do they do that I don’t?  What do I do that they don’t?

And the handwringing goes on, and on, and on…

Today, I came across a great piece over at MarketingProfs.com that breaks this common calamity down pretty succintly.  Four points of coverage:

Mistake #1: Beaten-to-Death Research

Mistake #2: Market and Service Offering Reluctance

Mistake #3: Cliché Competitive Differentiation

Mistake #4: Unique Methodology

It’s a great read… take the time.

Who Should You Be Selling To?

Every day, as you sit in your office trying to figure out how to get more potential clients onto your prospecting list, what are you actually doing? Are you actively prospecting and then qualifying those prospects, or are you spending the bulk of your time trying to convince people who, quite frankly, don’t want to be convinced of anything except that it’s beer-thirty?

I was over at SalesTeamTools today and saw this a blog posting about this very issue. How many times have you done your prep work, been dead-on prepared for a major pitch, then found yourself in front of a person who, plain and simply, has very little interest in talking to you at all?

So when you prospect, are you just filling up your database of potentials, or are you taking the time to actually qualify those leads before spending your valuable time preparing for the next frustrating pitch? From SalesTeamTools:

“It’s finding out, quickly, who recognizes they need to make things better because they’re broken, or make things better because they can. And spending time only with those prospects. It’s telling them in brief, easy-to-understand, engaging language what you do, why you do it, how it could help them, and finding out if they get it.

If they don’t, then move on.“

Prospecting without qualifying, many times, is simply an exercise in frustration. Take that extra time to do your research on your prospects, find out who you need to talk to exactly, and be sure you’re talking to people who are difference-makers… people who can make decisions.

And always be ready to help them. Always.

Little Blue Book of Advertising

It’s been a few weeks since I put up a book review on AccountHUNTER, so today I was looking for new titles that may either be out or are coming out in the next few months. In my searching, I came across a title set to be released in late July / early August — “The Little Blue Book of Advertising” by Penguin Group.

Before preparing my request to Penguin for a review copy of this book, I came across a pretty detailed review of it on Brand Autopsy. After reading their impressions of the book, I still sent my request letter but also wanted to link up to it because their synopsis is quite detailed.

The premise of the book is quite simple — 52 tried and true ideas culled over the years by the authors, both of whom are advertising veterans.

The review on Brand Autopsy is impressive to me, in that they don’t just give their singular impression of the overall book, but they break down several of the tips and actually review the tips individually. A unique and time consuming effort for sure.

I’ll do my own review when my copy arrives, of course…

Can You Master the ‘Science’ of Selling?

Becoming good at selling — heck, becoming good at anything — is not easy. Rather, it’s a process, almost scientific in the approach. It’s dedication and commitment, it’s desire and hard work.

As my father used to tell me (and still does), “nothing worth doing is easy.” When I was a kid, I thought he was crazy. But he’s right.

Which is why I’m a devoted reader. I read all the time, it seems. New ideas, analysis of existing ideas, and a lot of motivational-type reading. Which explains why I like what Jeffrey Gitomer writes so much.

Gitomer has a great piece on his website regarding how he became good at selling — and he is good. I’d recommend taking a look at it, it’s well worth your time.

Order Taker!

You walk into an electronics store, for example, and the sales person immediately comes to you as you gawk over that 50″ plasma television and asks the question… you know what it is.

“Can I help you?”

And your pavlovian response, almost certainly, is “Nope… just looking.”

The mindset that the sales person has is that of an order-taker.  It’s a simple, yet effective example of what not to do when talking to a new prospect.  Same rule applies when you make a sales call to a prospect and aren’t really offering anything that solves a problem.  When the prospect realizes that you’re not going to be much help, they come up with any of a myriad of reasons why they need to get off the phone  And you lose…

This is behavior that must be avoided at all costs if you want to succeed — not just in selling, but in anything that you do.  The key to not becoming an order-taker is in the planning.  Before you call on a prospect, do you take the time to find out what their needs are, or do you just call them with the same old script?

Planning is somethat that you’ve got to make time for every day.  Don’t just blow it off in the interest of making numbers.   Offer solutions to your prospects situation.  It’s your task to solve their problems, not the other way around.

Kudos to Dan Seidman over at SalesAutopsy.com for sparking my mind on this one today.

Unique New Tool for Advertising Agency New Business Hunters Launched

Sales Development Services (SDS), a leading provider of business intelligence and revenue development solutions for the advertising industry, today announced the nationwide availability of Ad-ology(R) - The Ultimate New Business Tool for Agencies.

If you’ve not yet taken a look at Ad-ology, you’re missing out.  I’ve mentioned it before on this blog, and they do offer a free trial to qualifying agencies.

The Demise of the Sales Call?

Tonight while bouncing around the web looking for nuggets of gold to blog, I came across this piece from SethGodin.com regarding the death of the sales call.  Not a complete death, mind you, but more of a metamorphisis.  

Godin makes a strong point that the traditional "sales call" has been replaced by the "buying call."

I especially like the way that he wrapped up this very succint article, as quoted below:

When a salesperson gets asked, "Hey, are you trying to sell me something," the best answer may be, "I sure am, and if you're not here to buy something, we should both be somewhere else…"

Review: Carina NT20 Mobile Laptop Desk

Well, I must admit… I never thought that I'd find it neccesary to sit down a review a desk of all things. But a few weeks ago, with the FIFA World Cup on my mind, I realized that I'm going to be spending significantly more time in front of my televisions (yes, I said televisions) starting this Friday.

If you're not a soccer fan, it doesn't matter. Just know that my days over the next month are going to be a bit bizarre. But I have work to do every day. Sadly enough, I can't just take a month off to watch soccer!

So as I thought about it, I started looking for a better way to work in my living room that didn't involve sitting in the easy chair with a computer on my lap. And as I looked, I stumbled across this desk from Carina.

So after seeing the ridiculously low price tag on this thing ($59.00), I decided 'What the heck?' and ordered it up. It arrived at the weekend, and I've been working with it the past few days.

‘The Best Sales Advice I’ve Received’

I'm always on the lookout for good selling advice (and you should be too!), so when I came across this wonderful pice from the blog of Warren Greshes, I was pretty pleased.

Over 30 years of selling experience, and three pieces of advice that have stuck with him throughout his career:

1. If you throw enough $#@% against the wall, something's gotta stick.

2. If you sell enough dresses, you can burn down my office.

3. The way you break them in is the way they’re always going to be.

Those three simple sentences are pretty powerful when you think about them in the context of the daily efforts that you make in your career.  He also makes a pretty commonly used, but no less powerful statement in the piece as well.

"Great salespeople are worth their weight in gold." 

 Are you?