By MARK WALKER - www.jmwalkergroup.com 

 

I have a favorite question that I build into most of my initial sakes interviews with prospective clients. “What do your best people do that you wish everyone would do?” In one two week period, two sales executives answered, “Build relationships.”

What are some of the ways that I and others use to build relationships?

§ Develop trust with people by showing genuine interest in them.
§ Responding to prospect or customer requests promptly is a relationship builder.
§ Look for ways to let customers know you are thinking about the needs they revealed to you.
§ Follow up promptly with commitments you have made or problems a customer has told you about.
§ Avoid obviously self-serving contacts. Make contacts about them and their business.
§ Be interested in their needs. Ask lots of “how, who, what, when and where” questions that can’t be answered with a word, but with information.
§ Talk about your products or services only as solutions to needs they have agreed they are looking to resolve.

Effective use of communication tools. A colleague in

Nashville, TN, Harriet Butler, is a master at relationship building. She is uses voice mail after hours to leave short messages letting a client know she is working on something for them. These little messages often take less than a minute, and they help build trust because she is thinking about them and their business needs.

Look for ways that you can save clients money when they make commitments to you. I sell sales and customer service training programs. A few years ago I saved client thousands of dollars over a three year period by asking, “How many people do you think will be going through this program in the next 12 months?” When they told me, the number was significantly more than needed to get them into our highest discount bracket. I simply asked for a letter of commitment stating their expectations, and my boss extended the highest discount immediately to this valued client.

You can also offer to do “leg work” for a client. I used my schedule flexibility when working with a large client to travel all around the state giving executive and supervisory overviews. These helped the client achieve their training goals at virtually no additional cost to them, and I got to know their people all over the state.

Perhaps the best question you can ask yourself to develop trust relationships is, “What would I want me to do if I was this customer?” Then figure out a way to do it. Whether you are selling, or serving after the sale, these ideas can be relationship builders for you!