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Traditionally sales people like myself have thrived on selling 'face to face', directly in contact with the buyer. During the troubles of Covid-19 there were fewer opportunities to see customers face to face.
You do your research, find out who the buyer is in a company
, you find out as much as you can about both the company and the buyer themselves, after many months of trying to contact them by phone, email etc you finally have your appointment.
Because you’ve done your homework, because you were on time, neat and presentable, because you found out the problems your potential customer has and that needed to be overcome and you tailored your offering to meet those needs, eventually you were able to sit down with the client face to face.
From that first meeting you found that there was an affinity – you got on well. It was purely business but because you were understanding of their needs, empathetic but above all confident in your ability to help them overcome their problems with the help of the products or services you offered, it turned into a great relationship based on trust.
Post Covid the selling playing field is definitely different. Personally I am doing a lot of business via WhatsApp which is fantastic. I am now getting out to meet people face to face because that's where I get the best results - sales is a people business after all.
I have never had a problem with cold calling - some do. Some find it extremely hard and so back off from doing it. But maybe now is the time to re-start? I would still suggest doing your research first and cold call potential customers that would really fit well with your business and not just knock on every door you can think of - that would be a waste of time and rather demoralising!
I have a long hard look at my own business during Covid
This is where nurturing relationships comes in. I view my customers as ‘partners’, equal partners. I source what they want, at a price that’s fair, quickly and efficiently. They come to know over time that I will go the extra mile, I will answer their enquiries promptly and I will give them service above and beyond what they previously were given.
I’m not just selling a product, I’m selling the whole package – an efficient, friendly and very fair way of doing business. In essence I am selling myself.
As an independent Sales Agent, I am my own brand. People will buy from me if I can earn their trust, they like me, they like the products I sell, they like the service I can provide and that it is appreciably better than what they were doing before.
Now more than ever, customers want to deal with people they trust and that will get the job done efficiently, for a good price and on time. For your regular customers it will not matter that you are not seeing them face to face – they will want to deal with you due to all the points mentioned.
As sales people we have to learn how to engage with customers in different ways – WhatsApp is a favourite with me. I’ve been using it for years and most days I receive orders this way.
Email marketing, websites and of course actually picking up the phone and talking to customers are all even more important now than they have ever been.
Work hard in developing relationships with your customers – view them as partners: you want to be part of their success and you want them to turn to you for advice, for help and of course to give you their orders!
I hope you liked my brief blog. For more in-depth information and help email me: ian@ianconsultancy.com
