How do I build trust with existing clients in this market?
Allen in Toronto.

Dear Allen,

Good for you to be thinking about enhancing your relationships with current clients. Too many sales reps forget about this. Meeting – or exceeding – customer expectations is at the heart of trust. When expectations aren’t met, trust is broken, opportunities are missed and sales can be lost, all despite the countless hours of hard work that were put in to almost making something happen.

1. Be clear, thorough – and honest

Shared expectations produce greater harmony and more sales – period. When establishing expectations at the onset of a project, be as thorough as possible, and be prepared to adjust as needed.

For example, if you find the customer asking for something you simply can’t deliver, try some of the following to set the right expectations, right from the start:

• “I’m not sure we can provide the program with that deposit schedule. If we can’t, does that mean it’s over between us?“
• “I don’t think we can meet your delivery schedule. Knowing that, does it make sense for us to move forward?“

In addition, be clear about what your customer can expect from you, as well as what they can’t. Tell them what you can deliver instead of what they are asking for. Tell them that if ever you are unable to fulfill a request, you will always let them know either up front, or the minute you realize it yourself.

2. Set the bar for consistent performance

Remember the old adage, “under-promise and over-deliver?” In sales, this isn’t just a falsehood – it also sets an expectation that you might not be able to keep up with in the future.

When you under-promise and over-deliver, you set the bar for what the customer expects you to deliver at a whole new level. What you “over-delivered” becomes the new baseline, and when you aren’t able to meet this new standard consistently, your customer will end up feeling confused, disappointed – or betrayed.

To build a consistently profitable relationship, there’s no point in delivering better, faster for less investment than your original promise if you know that you can’t keep that promise through the relationship. It’s better to simply say what you are going to do, and then do it exactly as and when you said you would.

Good luck! Colleen

Participate in Our Poll!

Participate in the poll and see what other sales professionals are saying. In our last poll we asked:When making in-person sales calls, what is your attire? Here are the results:

• Always a suit (with pantyhose for the ladies!): 67%
• Business casual – jacket and no tie (for the men): 7%
• Casual – no jacket required: 13%
• I match the customer’s environment: 13%

This week, to coincide with the release of Honesty Sells I’m going to ask you to be honest and answer a very tough question: Have you ever been less than honest with a customer? Remember to be honest; these polls are anonymous!

Register Your Vote & See the Results!

Chris and I were lucky enough last week to head off to Europe for a week of vacation. Chris has a friend from military college who is currently working at NATO so it was a great opportunity to visit Brussels for a couple of days and then head off to Paris. I hadn’t been there since my whirlwind band trip in high school so it was fantastic to explore the city at our own pace and take in the great scenery and the great food. In fact, one food discovery that made my entire trip was the realization that macarons in Europe aren’t the coconut laden macaroons we get over here. Instead they are mini sandwiches of fine cookies with a ganache center… and they’re delicious!

I debated about whether or not to bring my laptop and Blackberry on this trip; it was truly supposed to be a vacation. As I’ve mentioned before, everyone needs a break – a reward for all the hard work and a time to recharge. Having said that, I realized that when you’re passionate about what you do, being completely cut off is actually more stressful than checking in regularly. Nothing is worse that discovering a work issue that festered for days that could have been resolved immediately. So a quick check of email while sitting in a Paris cafe enjoying the sun isn’t so bad.

In fact, blending work and vacation can be extremely productive. As the publisher’s deadline for the final draft of Honesty Sells was approaching, Chris and I locked ourselves up in a cottage in Lake Placid. I enjoyed the solitude to work intensely on the book without the regular distractions of the office. And I was recharged each time I took a break for a morning walk along the lake or evening hike in the surrounding mountains. The result: I completed the draft and this week Honesty Sells hit the bookstore shelves.

I’m extremely proud of Honesty Sells – it’s a refreshing message in today’s tough selling environment. When your facing an up-hill battle to make that one sale, it’s too easy to lose sight of your real goal – to establish a long term relationship with that customer. Make sure you visit our book site at www.honestysells.com to read more about establishing honest (and profitable!) relationships with your customers. And make sure you join Steven and I at next week’s no-charge teleclass (you can read the details below…)..

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

My friend Brent Thompson from Peak Sales Recruiting  sent me this quick piece today. I thought it was worth sharing!

Here are seven proven ways to make your reps more productive this quarter.

1.    Give reps more time for selling – automate low value tasks such as reporting and data collection so your reps can focus on prospecting, developing and selling

2.    Focus on results – activity matters, results matter more

3.    Help them prioritize and invest time wisely – sometimes reps spin their wheels on the wrong opportunities and activities – coach them to improve where and when they spend their time

4.    Reward value added – service sells – incent your reps to be of high value to customers and reap the rewards

5.    Create systems – simplify the sales process so reps can develop strong sales habits and tactics, create checklists and rules for advancing opportunities in the process, and provide tools to accelerate closes

6.    Plan for the unplanned – there are no certainties in this economy and hoping there will be just creates frustrations – expect the unexpected

7.    Remind them to have fun – if your reps are under too much pressure, they won’t be smiling in front of prospects. Enthusiasm is infectious, find ways to blow off a little steam here and there.

Dedicated to increasing your sales

Colleen

Last week I attended the Glazer Kennedy Marketing Super Conference  with Ivanka Trump. Sadly….I missed her presentation because I arrived a day late. I did manage to catch some highlights and talk to others who did see her speak. What I heard reminded me how relevant her message is to all sales professional. So today post is all about the 4 lessons I would have learned from Ivanka if I had heard her speak. Or, to put it another way, lessons I learned from Ivanka through others who did hear her speak!

1) Drive: Don’t take anything for granted. It was very insightful to hear how Ivanka has taken her role in the Trump family seriously when it comes to business. You won’t find her lying around sipping champagne all day – she’s one ambitious gal. What can we learn from this? You can never take a sale or a customer for granted. Remember that even in the best of times, there is a lot of rejection in selling. What we do is hard work. What’s worse, you can multiply that rejection ten fold in a bad economy. It’s up to you to find a way to keep at it. Celebrate the all victories – big and small but don’t take them for granted. Get right back to work securing another new customer, and nurturing the current clients in your database. Surround yourself with people who are giving you life and are  having success. Stay away from those who are caving in and losing their drive. Hanging out with Life suckers will make it hard to secure sales.

2) Do what you love. Ivanka has a passion for fashion and has turned that in to a thriving jewelrybusiness. Her business is successful because she loves what she sells and her energy and enthusiasm for the brand is contagious. How does doing what you love relate to you? This week I coached 2 Platinum members who are suffering in their business. Not because of the economy but because they don’t believe in their business and they don’t trust their boss. If you feel like you are being undermined by your managers, OR if you think that your products fall short of superior, OR if you just don’t really like the industry you work in, it is impossible for you to be successful. The good news is we are all capable of changing! You are not trapped, stuck or chained to your current work environment. Luckily for my 2  Platinum members, I am coaching them to leave their jobs and find something new. I know they are exceptional sales people….they just can’t succeed in an environment they don’t love to work in. Are you doing what you love?

3) You can sell more by adding more YOU to the process. Everything about Ivanka’s jewelry line is an extension of her. Her style and own personal taste is front and centre with each piece. She designs what she would wear and talks freely about why. She clearly understands that personality – specifically hers – is central to the sale. I believe that all sales people can apply this to their business. Remember; people buy people first, then ideas, and third things. You selling YOU is always the first step in making the sale. How can you add more you into the sales process? How can you let your personality shine?

4) Hard work. In this economy those who are succeeding are doing more. They are launching second and third lines of business. They are attending more networking events and making more calls. Of course, at the same time as working hard, the best are working smart. Ivanka is working hard and smart. Diversifying her business, attending a large number of events to promote her business all the while working at Trump on new construction projects. I am sure that there are some days when she wakes up and thinks “why am I doing this?”  or “I’m tired, maybe I’ll lie in bed for a few hours” . We all have bad days and days when we are unmotivated. As sales professionals we need to shake it off and get back to work.  Today, working harder will help you make up for the short falls. And when the economy turns your hard work will pay off handsomely when people start opening their wallets. If you typically work 8 hours a day, work 10. Don’t fool yourself into thinking just working smarter is the answer.

We can all learn from success stories like Ivanka. I think what most impresses me is that despite her privilege, her access to wealthy people and education she chooses to work hard and not sit on her laurels. She is choosing to build her own business as well as working in the family business. Let’s face it. She does not have to work in order to pay the bills. But she chooses to.  I think that says it all about her own future success.