It’s been said that, “sales is an art, not a science”. Personally, I fully buy into this philosophy. Sure, sales is a numbers game. But, at the same time, you can take the same approach every single time in your sales process and your sales meetings, yet you’ll yield different results.
Why?
Because sales is an art and not a science.
You need to be able to adjust on the fly to cater your personality type and needs of any given acquisition to be successful in sales. Afterall, we are selling to humans. The problem with a lot of our mindsets is that we are thinking about “acquisitions” and “accounts” not “relationships” and “people”.
Sales is like dating because you are relationship building and not every person you meet will be a good fit.
Whether you’re a seasoned sales pro, that’s not proactively prospecting or you are married and dating seems like a distant memory - in either case, you probably remember the importance of building the foundation of your relationships from the ground up. After all, if you’re not hunting for new business it’s likely because you’ve put the time and (thoughtful) effort into building long-lasting relationships.
The information you are about to receive is for the salespeople that are hungry and looking to dramatically increase their business. Let’s start by making some analogies to get our mindset in the right place.
Old School Approach
Sales First Contact:
Knocking on doors is almost a distant memory just like the tired philosophies of “dialing for dollars” and “smile and dial”. While, knocking on doors and cold calls still work; they aren’t the preferred way a client wants their first interaction with you.
Dating First Contact:
You strike up a conversation at the local grocery store, maybe a class at the gym or anywhere else through your daily adventures. This approach still works, but it isn’t the only way anymore.
New School Approach
Sales First Contact:
In the age of social media, sales has never been easier. You can reach your prospects in more ways than you ever could in the past. Whether you want to slide into a DM, send a professional email or LinkedIn message or connect on Twitter and even Facebook to start a discussion. All of these approaches are now available to you. Of course, you need to do all of the above in a professional manner while mix and matching some of the strategies. These are all just new ways we can reach prospects and when you compliment them in your sales process in a strategic way you can find extreme success.
Dating First Contact:
The online dating industry’s revenue is a little more than $2 Billion annually and with over 23 million users on Match.com alone it’s fair to say that online dating is a very common way to have your first contact with a “prospect”. Similarly to sales, this is a new way to meet your potential “buyers” virtually which is where and how they communicate most in modern times.
Crumbing & Ghosting
“Crumbing”, what’s that?
Then it all comes crashing down! First the crumbing. What is crumbing? So glad you asked because I had no idea what “crumbing” was until I heard about it on the Dating Silicon Valley Podcast.
Crumbing basically means that your romantic partner you are building a relationship with is just leading you on and has no intention of actually dating.
Does this sound like the sales world? Of course it does!
I think it’s the great Kirby Hasseman that we always hear on the unScripted podcast saying, “If it’s not a hell yes, then it’s a hell no”. “The maybes will kill you” is another common expression in sales. This is crumbing! The same thing goes on in the dating world. They are just leading you on…
Ghosting
Now, let’s talk about ghosting. In the dating world, this typically would imply that you’ve been on several dates everything seems good and that you’ll be a “couple” soon. Then all of a sudden it happens… they just disappear.
They don’t respond to your texts, your calls … NOTHING!
How often do we see this in sales? Hopefully not often, but this happens from time to time! AND in sales, it’s one of the most frustrating things to experience in your professional sales career. If you’re anything like me, then after you’ve met your prospect in person, have done presentations and estimates you know you’re going to close. It’s a matter of “when” you will be signing on the line which is dotted and not “if”.
3 Tips to a Long Lasting Relationship
First, meet in person! No longer are we going to just be pen pals with our prospects. No longer will we get an email and simply hide behind our phone or computer and send it back.
Get it on the calendar and meet in person! Bring gifts.
We are in the business of preaching the gospel that is promotional products and how we can make them work for our clients. Practice what you preach and make them feel appreciated with some “branded nuggets of goodness” as Bill Petrie calls these items that bring smiles to people’s faces.
Yes, I know I just outlined how buyers prefer to communicate virtually. However, at the end of the day we are all still people; and the people I want to do business with understand that a solid foundation for a relationship requires trust which typically is built through actually seeing someone’s eyes in person. AND if you have trouble getting the face to face meeting then simply just have no guilt and tempt them with free goodies (they will take the meeting for that alone).
Second, compliment your potential buyer. Show them that you care and that they are a person not an account. Look them up on social media, find out what makes them tick and get them to talk about themselves. Comment about how you love their passion about XYZ, or how they are so knowledgeable about XYZ … find something even if it’s just that you like how they communicate, their professionalism … anything!
People like to be seen, people like to be heard, people like to be recognized, and people love to receive positive reinforcement through compliments.
Third, follow-up and set the next action. In the dating scene, you would set the next date before you end the current date. That is closing. Closers always make clear expectations for what’s to follow.
After you meet with your prospect, tell them exactly what to expect from you moving forward. If there’s a current project on the table, then let them know that you will do the necessary steps to get them what they want by when they need it. Usually, this would be in the form of providing estimates, maybe samples and forget about lead times. Buyers don’t want lead times. Buyers want to know order dates. Dumb it down for them, and tell them if you can approve by XYZ then I can have this delivered 3 days prior to when you need it. Make it as easy as possible for them to say approve your project.
Now, if there isn’t a current project on the table that’s when it makes things more difficult. You want to avoid the potential crumb/ghosting, so tell them exactly how often they will hear from you.
Do you have a weekly/monthly newsletter? Do you have a blog series, podcast, video series or something else that will provide education for them? Will you be sending them samples every few months? Will you be calling, emailing, or texting them periodically? OR do you just set a follow-up meeting johnny-on-the-spot for 2 months later?
Whatever it is, tell them up front and let the expectations be known.
Swag Relationships = Trust & Taste
At the end of the day to build a successful and long-lasting swag relationship with your clients you will need to build trust. This can be done through the steps outlined above. Second, demonstrate your value. As a swag provider, you can demonstrate your value by having good taste because with over 800,000 items available a lot in the market is simply junk. If you show junk, you will not be providing value. Show them that you have taste and you’ll be recognized for it. Lastly, after you build trust and show you have good taste you’ll be on your way to a long lasting brand relationship with your prospects.
So, that’s it. Like it, love it, or hate it… I wanna know.
How do you build relationships with your prospects?
Swag On,
SwagSam
Sam Kabert is the creative director of SwagWorx and the creator and co-host of the podcast “WhatUp Silicon Valley!” A risk taker who embraces permanent beta, Sam is leading the transformation of his family-run office supplies business into a promotional products powerhouse. Sam can be reached at Sam@SwagWorx.com