Sales Strategy

3 Ways to Create Winning Relationships September 11, 2019 (0 comments)

Tampa, FL--The customer's brain is in a negative attitude as it seeks out any perceived danger, from the time before they enter the store to the time of the introduction. For this reason, the first step of the sales professional is to eliminate their fears and anything that may be seen as a danger. This is accomplished by developing an immediate connection or relationship. There are three easy ways to do this:
 
1. Remember the anagram M.A.F.F. or, “Make a Friend First.” We've called it “Flirting” in our training about connecting. Removing any sexual connotations, the mechanics of making a friend are the same as flirting: eye contact, smile, looking for commonalities and authentically making the other person feel significant is the fastest way to disarm the danger radar and make a friend. Become a great "flirt." 

2. Show how much you care before trying to impress with how much you know. Trying to be the smartest person in the room (IQ) is very off-putting and not an effective strategy in creating a winning relationship. In his book Working with Emotional Intelligence, Dr. Daniel Goleman shares four emotional intelligence skills, grouped under two main categories of personal competence and social competence:

• Personal Competence:
  • Self-Awareness – Accurately identifying your emotions in the moment.
  • Self-Management – how you use awareness of your emotions to create behaviors that you want.
• Social Competence
  • Social Awareness – How well you read the emotions of others
  • Relationship Management – How you use the first three emotional skills to manage interactions with other people.

3. Make the other person feel significant. When a client leaves the store, they should feel so good about themselves that they have to duck so as not to bump their head on the top of the door jam. This MUST be authentic and come across as sincere. This is vital to connecting with the customer and creating a winning relationship.

Do these three things and watch what happens to your online reviews and, more importantly, sales. Once it is perceived that a connection has been made between the customer and the salesperson, it is time to begin the transition to the next step in selling. Timing is everything and remember the great quote, “People don’t care how much you know until they now how much you care.”

Terry Sisco is CEO of Exsellerate, Inc., funny-maker, uplifter, mischief maker, father. Exsellerate has revolutionized retail sales training and made it "entertrainment," given it a millennial voice, made it ridiculously easy to learn on-demand style through social media platforms, and given sales consultants a sense of community, purpose, and the tools to crush their sales. Like us at www.facebook.com/exsellrev, call us at 813-787-7355, email at tlsisco@exsellerate.com, and visit us at www.exsellerate.com.