The relationship between customers and the company can be tricky when it comes to customer support. While technology has mostly taken over the world of sales today, live interactions with people are still something that cannot be entirely replaced.
Developing a relationship with the customer can be the push for incremental and cross-selling. Now we’re going to look at six practical tips and practices on how you can improve your sales techniques. But first, let’s explore what relationship selling is all about.
Relationship selling process
We are used to thinking that the central communication with clients ends with closing the deal and paying for the service or product. Relationship selling is a new sales method in which the final achievement is a solid and trusting relationship between the seller and the client.
Building a relationship with a client should be approached in much the same way as creating a personal relationship with people. Even if your product or service completely covers the client’s request and solves all their problems, they will eventually listen to their intuition and refuse your services if they feel certain red flags are present. It is the job of customer service agents to eliminate and prevent these red flags and set up green ones.
The main principle of relationship selling is to show, not tell, that you’re worth your clients’ trust. You may be familiar with the term needs-based selling. This method is also known as the consultative method. The primary condition of this method is to listen to the client’s needs and carefully select a solution for them. In this way, you demonstrate that the client can rely on you.
What relationship sales are made of
Relationship selling primarily consists of improving the relationship with the client. Whereas in other techniques, the agent focuses on his success, relationship selling focuses on pleasing the client as much as possible. Therefore, if you want to follow this methodology, you must focus not on the result (the final sale or closing of the deal) but communication with the client. In short, you need to use all of your empathic skills or develop them if they are missing.
A simple tip: add more contact points with your client, pay attention to details when communicating with them and become their friend. The following techniques work for this:
- Mark your client’s birthday or important dates or holidays on your calendar. Send them a personalized postcard right on the special day.
- Keep track of their business development. Be especially attentive to what your client does and what position they hold. In this way, you can better understand what you can offer your client and congratulate them on their promotion. After all, your client’s new opportunities directly mean new opportunities for you.
- Pay attention to the client’s family. For most people, family is the most crucial thing in life. So it would be a big plus if the agent would mark up information such as the names of the most important family members, their employment, etc. You want to build a friendly relationship with the client, don’t you?
- Find out about the client’s hobbies and interests. Find additional contact points with your client because what better way to interest them than through their favorite hobbies?
- Religious holidays. Mark on your calendar when your client should not be disturbed by holidays related to their religion.
You must find out all information without undue pressure while respecting your client’s boundaries.
The benefits of selling relationships
To be more professional with this method, you should realize that a trusting relationship with a client equals profit for your company. In addition to this, selling the relationship has several additional benefits:
- Understanding your customer base. A satisfied client will be able to trust you with more personal information, giving you a better understanding of your target audience.
- Referrals from your clients. A good relationship with a sales agent is more like a nice bonus to purchase or purchased service for clients. If they remain happy with their customer experience with your company, they are more likely to recommend it to their contacts, who may also turn out to be your potential customers.
- Customer loyalty. With a good and respectful relationship, there is a higher probability that the customer will come back to you again for a product or service.
Six effective methods for selling relationships
The process of gaining trust is usually long and complicated. Customers won’t trust you until they see that your words match your actions. So here are six working practices on how you can reliably build a quality working relationship with your clients.
- Captivate the client
A significant point in communicating with the client is finding topics that interest them, i.e., finding common ground. In this way, you can more easily find leverage and offer the client exactly what they are interested in. - Always tell only the truth
Try to give your customers only accurate and correct information. Ше does not mean that you can share confidential information or information related to other customers with your customer. But if you feel that your customer still does not fully understand your service or product, try to educate them as much as possible and provide all the necessary information. - Use facts when talking about competitors.
Do not speak negatively about your competitors in front of your customers. Take advantage of the apparent advantages in which your company and its product/service are better. - Do not make exaggerated expectations.
Overestimate your client’s expectations and always plan to deliver what you can do. Be clear about what you can offer or do. - Offer a solution without pressure.
You should have a goal to help your customers, not sell services or products. Help customers find the root of the problem and solve it as effectively as possible. But stick to your company policy and don’t interfere with your customer’s problems unless they ask for it. - Don’t take defeat personally.
Anything can happen in sales, so don’t take the loss of a potential client personally. Selling a relationship is about getting back on track, even immediately after a defeat.
Spend more time developing your relationships with your customers
Building a quality sales relationship can be a complicated process. The basis of this method is to try to make a friendly relationship with each client individually, which can be time-consuming as agents also have other technical tasks. So for efficient workflow, use the Zendesk customer relationship tool, which will free up your agents’ time for more critical tasks and communication with potential clients. To learn more about the Zendesk tool, contact the Cloudfresh experts.
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