Are You Struggling to Build Relationships with Customers?
Building powerful relationships with customers is a very significant part of the sales process but surprisingly, it still seems to fall below the radar in a lot of training material. Despite the advancements in technology, People will always love to buy from people, and we must never forget this fact. So why is it that a significant number of sales people fail in this area?
1. Poor Time Management
When I hear a sales person saying that there are never enough hours in the day, it tends to set alarm bells off in my head. Apart from the obvious, this lack of time and productivity management can also create other side effects such as poor customer relations. If a sales person feels as though they are constantly working against the clock they will be less inclined to spend time building relationships with their customers. If you meet a person on the street and they are in a hurry, they don’t have time to stop and talk to you, do they?
2. It’s All About Me
Unfortunately you come across a lot of this in both Marketing and Sales and the customer is the first one to notice it. It’s too easy in selling to put all the focus on reaching targets and just getting the job done, even if it means bulldozing your way through customers like a bunch of skittles in a bowling alley. I personally hate to deal with this type of attitude. It makes me want to go to the nearest competitor and take my business elsewhere.
3. Lack of Empathy
I don’t want to speak badly of my fellow sales colleagues but let’s say I’ve noticed over the years that a certain percentage of sales professionals couldn’t give a damn about their clients. You might say business is business, but if you genuinely don’t care about the needs and concerns of your customers, they will sense it. Once a customer notices your attitude, building good relations will be like climbing Mount Everest with a wooden leg.
4. The Need to Adapt
As you will already know, in selling you have to deal with a multitude of different personality types. This means that if you want to be successful with clients, it’s essential to adapt your style. Let’s say your customer is the impatient type and you like to pay attention to detail. You will need to be conscious of this fact or you will irritate the customer. There’s nothing complicated about paying attention to the customer personality type and just about anybody can do it if they want to.
