One of my professors liked to say, “Business is people!” The plain truth of that statement left an impression with me. Later in life I read the book, “How to Make Friends and Influence People.” Then, “Business is People!” became fundamental to my career success.
Lose Yourself:
Steer your attention away from yourself and listen carefully to understand your prospect’s message. Then you can respond in a way that identifies with their thinking. This leads to dialog which leads to a relationship. As people find they can relate with you, they’ll become genuinely interested in hearing your message as it relates to them, including whatever it is you’re selling.
Marketing is All about Them:
Timing is important. Your business prospect’s immediate interests probably have little to do with your product or service “solution.” They’re more likely to be thinking about their family, favorite hobby, or pressing business and personal issues. Marketing messages should align with real life experiences, both lived and hoped for.
Get to the Table!
To hit a home run, you must first get up to bat. Clearly, a salesperson’s job is to reach out to potential new customers proactively. A marketer’s job is to create awareness and desire for a brand. The best way to accomplish success for both is to create an attraction in the market, not push a product or service with a lot of noise.
There is a time and place for spirited selling, answering objections and hard-nosed negotiation, but you’ll probably be absent from that table if you haven’t first developed an authentic relationship with your prospective customer. This relationship begins first in the mind of customers as they relate to your consistent messaging in the market.
Resist the Urgency Urge!
Perhaps there’s some urgency in your revenue projections. Maybe you really need to hit a goal or quota and think you should bust out and use more aggressive selling tactics. Go ahead and try. You might force a few sales through the pipeline. But what if your competition has already made friends with your best prospects by talking with them about what really matters; their personal interests and business goals?
Advertising should tap into emotions to generate recall and awareness. In business development, a personal selling approach requires focus and patience, but as you continually practice it, you’ll cultivate valuable friendships in your professional life and be in business for keeps!
Chuck Sink is the owner of Chuck Sink Link, a marketing services agency in Sunapee NH.
