Customer Relationship Management
In a B2B selling environment customer relationship management is the key to success.
Selling in the current dynamic market environment where customers are far more informed on products or services that they are looking for in the market place than it used to be a few years ago. Thanks to the internet and social media, customers now have more clarity on all suppliers available to meet their requirements. It’s a tough world for salespeople, especially in B2B environment where it’s more of person to person selling than buying on-line or portals. However, there’s a wealth of knowledge and techniques available even for sales people to master and still make selling happen. One such fundamental tactic that every sales person should master in the B2B selling is “Customer Relationship Selling”.
Sales people who master this tactic of managing strong relationships with key decision makers in the customer premises have better chances of winning against their competitor people.
As the name implies, relationship selling is all about the rapport and connect developed by the sales person with potential buyers in the customer premises who are extremely influential in the buying process from customer’s side. So, when we are talking about developing rapport or connect with people, it would essentially mean driving sales conversations in such a way that it shows care and generosity towards the people. Rather than focusing on selling of a product or service, the priority for the sales person is on the interactions that would lead to developing comfort and ultimately trust. Many a times the comfort comes with non-business discussions only. Topics that customer is keen to discuss and shows full attention with much greater engagement. Simply by caring about building relationships and taking an interest in their world, smart sales people can significantly improve their chances of winning orders and retaining such customers for the long-term business. In fact, smart sales people use them for quick cross referencing and building other potential customers.
Some important techniques that sales people must practice to be able to build customer relationships include:
- Active listening – Speaking less and engaging more in listening will help you understand customer pain points or challenges.
- Building friendship – For relationship selling to work, you need to connect with potential buyers on a personal level and build strong friendship. Remember friends always help.
- Be Honest – It’s always good to be honest with your customers. Sometimes you may be challenged with unwanted situation with customers, but staying connected and being honest in your approach will always help you build strong relationships.
- Be genuinely real and don’t fake – Customers are more knowledgeable and can easily make it when you are faking it for the sake of order/deal. Something that never works for a long-term business relationship. So, be real and genuine to your customers.
- Use Social Media – All customers love to be connected on social media and stay updated on latest in the market. Staying connected with customers on social media not only builds your relationship but also gets you to know more about your customer as a person, his likes / dislikes and taste. Social media platforms like FB/LinkedIn etc have become very popular channel to build strong relationships with customers on personal level. And it always helps.
If you want to learn more on Relationship Selling and techniques used to improve your sales
team’s performance please visit our website and check our services.
You can also connect with us on info@chalkwalkconsulting.com for a customized sales training program for your team.
www.chalkwalkconsulting.com
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