What do we often forget about in sales?

One of the topics you wanted me to write about on the blog is: What do we often forget about in sales?

Almost every time I do sales trainings, on the first slide of the presentation the word SALES in Serbian is written as follows: ProDA&JA

Why?

Pro is an abbreviation that is associated with two things: professionalism and proactivity. These are the two key foundations for top sales results.

DA (YES) is the reply we want to get from a client while we are selling a product or service.

JA, (ME) that is, the seller, is a key factor influencing sales results. Therefore, the quality of a product/service, price or packaging are not as influential in making a decision with a client/buyer as the seller/advisor himself.

 The word selling in Serbian (Prodavanje) also consists of two words: pro and davanje (giving).

 Selling is actually professional giving.

 This is the first mental threshold that a sales professional should cross. The quality and the way we give our product or service to the client/customer must be greater than the compensation/money we receive for it in order to create long-term trust with the client.

I will never forget December 2011 when I bought my first MacBook at an Apple store in New York. With the help of their seller, I chose the model, paid at the checkout, and then the real show took place. The very act of opening the box was a masterpiece of sales performance. The seller was preparing me for a few minutes just to open the box and remove the plastic film from the computer. He created my emotions in advance, when he opened the box – I was thrilled with what I saw inside. They took $ 1,500 from me, while I was extremely happy. After that, we spent another fifteen minutes setting up the computer. They want to make sure that you will use their product well, because they know that you will come back again.

I later learned that Apple has an entire department in the company that deals with customer satisfaction– when they open the box and hand over the computer. Since then, I have always been using Apple products, just as all the employees in my companies.

Relationship selling is the selling of the 21^st century.

 The more Hi-Tech grows, the more Hi-Touch grows as well. Humans are social beings, we have a strong need for close relationships. Clients/ customer today are flooded with different offers of the same or similar quality, they can choose now more than ever. Differences in prices are sometimes so small that clients/customers do not care what they choose. That is why clients today choose the person who will select a product/service instead of them. Man is becoming more and more important for sales.

Competition can copy your product/service, but they can never copy your relationship that you can personally establish as a client/customer, because every person on the planet is unique. There is no copy of you. This is your unique selling proposition. The most important capital you have in the market is reputation – the position you have occupied in the client’s mind.

 Trust is the most sought-after value of the 21^st century.

As I said before, clients/customers are flooded with offers of the same or similar quality, so the level of their trust creates experience in using a product or service, just as when they get in touch with a representative of your company. If the trust is high, most of them would rather keep buying from you than experiment with the competition.

That is why keeping an existing client/customer is many times cheaper than acquiring a new one.

Some research show that it is up to 6 times cheaper. Unfortunately, some companies today have a much greater focus on acquiring new clients/customers than on retaining the existing ones. Due to the indifferent attitude, on the one hand they have high costs, and on the other hand the outflow of existing clients/customers.

For this reason, I have three messages for those involved in or managing sales:

1. Relations in selling are difficult to establish but easy to maintain
2. The most important value in sales is your reputation in the mind of the customer
3. Moment of truth – is the moment when the client/customer gets in touch with your company. Client’s/customer’s trust directly depends on the skills and motivation of the person who sells