06/ 16/ 2004
by Jeffrey Moses
Successful salespeople never forget one thing: long-term success is built on establishing personal relations with customers, not looking at a sale as a one-time event. Career salespeople understand that it’s far easier to sell additional products or services to a person than it is to make the first sale. When a network of loyal, satisfied customers has been created, a salesperson’s job becomes much easier, more profitable and much more satisfying.
Most of the effort goes into the first sale to a customer: getting to know the person, getting him or her to trust you, qualifying the person and learning about his or her needs. After the first sale, it’s often only a matter of supplying what the customer asks for, assuming you know their needs and can make suitable suggestions, have gained their trust and the customer is satisfied with the initial purchase.
A good salesperson is not one who simply makes a sale; rather, it’s a person who is, at a reasonable price, able to supply a product or service that truly addresses a customer’s needs. The skills necessary to being able to accomplish this are honesty, knowledge of the product/service, the ability to listen and understand what a customer needs and following up after the sale to make sure that the customer is satisfied in every respect. When a salesperson makes sales following these guidelines, it creates a following of loyal customers who will make repeat sales. Clearly, this is the basis for long-term success.
The importance of follow-up after the sale cannot be overemphasized. This is the part of the sale when loyal customers are created. Contact the customer several days after the sale. Answer questions, take care of concerns or problems and, most importantly, encourage them to do business with you again.
When handling returns, do so cheerfully, and honor your return policy. The law of averages states that some customers will return their purchases, even when your products are of the highest quality and the most reasonable price. By being honest and friendly, you’ll keep the door open for future sales.
Keep in close touch with you best customers. Send them birthday cards, holiday greetings or invitations to special "preferred customer" sales events.
If your product involves warranty work or follow-up by people in your company other than yourself, it’s vital to make sure that all channels are operating smoothly. It defeats the purpose of your hard work if the first time one of your customers comes in after making a purchase, he or she is treated badly by a receptionist, shuffled around by a repair person or receives shoddy warranty work. Long-term sales success is usually a team effort. Work with managers in all departments of your company to make sure that your customers continue to be satisfied.
For long-term sales success, customer referrals are almost as important as additional sales. When people are satisfied, they’ll send friends and associates to you. Ask for referrals as soon as you see that a customer is satisfied. Give the customer personal motivation for making a referral, perhaps immediate cash or future discounts.
A salesperson should always think long-term. View each customer as offering the potential not for just one purchase, but three, four or even more purchases over time. Each of these future purchases will be easier for you in terms of energy spent. The more you invest in each initial sale, the greater return you’ll experience over the course of your career.
