5 Selling Skills That Establish Deep Customer Relationships
People may forget your name, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
The best way to make people feel good about themselves, and therefore feel good about you, is to acknowledge their perspective. Of course, you can only acknowledge their perspective if you truly understand it.
Here are five selling skills to help you understand prospects’ perspectives and establish deep and meaningful customer relationships down the line.
1. Stop Selling
One of the most important selling techniques is this: If you want to persuade, begin by being persuaded. You do this by listening: Listen to the other with the intent of only understanding.
Forget about what you are going to say next or how you are going to spin their situation to meet your objective. You want to focus on the prospect and his or her business problem before introducing your product or service. Remember, it’s too soon to talk about you!
2. Don’t Assume
We all perceive situations differently based on past life experiences. Therefore, it is critical that we not assume we know another’s perspective.
Go into every conversation with an open mind; try not to have any preconceptions and understand that every prospect’s situation is unique to him or her!
3. Communicate
Communication is without question the most important skill in life! It’s rare that we feel like someone really gets us, so when we find that person, we treasure him or her.
Honing your communication skills can make a huge difference in both your personal and professional life. When it comes to business relationships, prospects and customers will feel more connected to you and be more willing to listen to what you have to say.
4. Listen
The secret to communicating at the highest level is empathetic listening. We are sometimes hindered because we don’t agree with another’s perspective or values. However, we don’t have to agree with them to understand them.
Simply listening can give you more information about a prospect or customer than most research can provide. So listen up!
5. Make Them Feel Good
People soon forget the details of what you said or how you said it, but they long remember how you made them feel. If you remember to try and make both prospects and customers feel good, they will remember you in a positive way.
Do something that makes you stand out from the pack; whether that’s sending a handwritten note to a customer after a purchase or making time to help a prospect with a problem they’ve been having.
Conclusion
If instead of selling right off the bat you leave your assumptions at the door and focus on communication, listening and making your prospects and customers feel good, you will easily and very soon establish deep customer relationships.
Remember, you first and foremost want to be an advisor and problem solver for your prospects and customers. Only once you’ve established that relationship and built trust and credibility can you really begin to introduce your solution.