Stick-to-it-tiveness

Do you follow up with your prospects? Here are some interesting sales statistics from Jack Daly. As with most things that are hard, staying with it is one of the keys to success. Just because you don't make a sale on the first try, doesn't mean you should give up. 

A business acquaintance I met many years ago told me about sales call where the prospect kept stringing him along and buying product from his competitor. Finally, after many visits, he asked the prospect how many sales calls it would take before the prospect gave him an opportunity to win the business. The prospect was a surprised and blurted out "five". The salesman left and came back the next time and didn't talk any business. They talked about the prospects kids and their sports teams. Right before he left, he took an index card out of his pocket and made a note of the date and put it back in his pocket. He got up and left.


He came back a few weeks later and repeated the process. They discussed only personal things, no business. Like the last time, he took the index card out of his pocket and made a note of the date and left.  On the third visit, when there was no discussion of business and he made a big production out of the index card, the prospect asked what he was doing. The salesman said, you told me on such and such a date, that it would take five more calls before you'd give me a chance to win your business. See, I made a note of it on this index card and I've recorded the date each time I called since. I need to make two more trips before you'll give me a change to earn your business. 


Of course the prospect blurted out "five" to discourage the salesman from continuing to call. Little did he realize that he'd make a game of it. The salesman put the index card back in his pocket and got up to leave when the prospect gave him an order. He has since earned nearly all of the prospects business and turned into a loyal and profitable account.


The moral of the story, stick to it. 


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What’s the pain?

It’s in my knee right around…no, not that kind of pain. What’s your customers’ pain?

One way you can get the upper hand on your competition is to really consider the way your customers do business. What are their issues? How do their buying processes match up with your selling processes? How do the quantities of product they need in an order match with the quantities that you sell in a unit?  Maybe you should ask.

These economic times require you and your team to be better than you were in the past. Most industries are slow or slower than four or five years ago. If you don’t have the kind of business you’d like, maybe you aren’t asking the right kinds of questions.

Have you considered having a conversation with your customers? I know, that’s pretty radical, but if might just work. Sit down with them in their office and ask what you can do to make doing business with your company easier. Is there anything about our ordering and delivery processes that cause you problems? Is there anything we can do better?

You may find that a simple and easy tweak to your process will provide a huge benefit to your customer. Maybe you pack 15 units to a case and your customer uses them in quantities of 8. Can you change your box size to accommodate one more unit so that your customer can get a better utility out of your ordering system? Perhaps it’s something in the way your paperwork doesn’t give them a piece of information that would make their life easier. The point is, you won’t know unless you ask.

We’re talking about making changes to your system to make life better for your customer. Maybe your willingness to consider a small change to your system is just the kind of loyalty that makes them a customer for life. Maybe your system tweak makes them love you enough so that your price is no longer a major factor in the buying decision. Maybe they would be willing to accept an x% higher price if you could make this simple change.

You will not be able to accommodate every whim and desire of your customers. But you never know what little thing about the way you do business that really irks them unless you ask. In these difficult economic times, your company has to be better than their other alternatives. Being assertive and positive in wanting to make the relationship better is a great way to make your customer relationships better.