Colleen’s Blog

Referrals are powerful selling tools when used correctly and as a part of an overall plan to increase your sales results. However, there’s a proper way to ask for referrals and another way that can leave your current clients annoyed and thus hurt your sales in the long run. Far too often, salespeople will commit to making classic mistakes when asking for referrals and assume (based on their disappointing results) that referrals aren't a worthwhile method to create more sales. However, referrals do work. They have the potential to connect you to new opportunities via your current network. This allows you to work with new potential clients with a level of trust and familiarity which otherwise would not exist without the referral. Let’s look at the top two mistakes salespeople make when asking for referrals:

Have you ever just wanted to fire a client? Perhaps they demanded too many things, were consistently rude, or did not fit well with you, your team or your services. While you are sometimes able to tweak your own services or set out guidelines that are mutually acceptable to all parties, there are times where you simply need to get rid of certain clients so you can focus on other customers who are more profitable on both a financial and a personal level. However, many salespeople are hesitant to fire a client because they don’t know how to approach the situation without the fear of burning bridges or causing a massive argument. These feelings are natural, but if a customer is taking time away dedicated to other areas of your business and causing massive headaches, it may be time to sever your business relationship. By following a few key steps, you can let go of customers easily without causing too much commotion.

Many salespeople understand the value of upselling but don’t understand how to take advantage of an opportunity to upsell, especially within their existing client base. Want to know the good news? There is one clear and fairly simple step you can take to increase your chances of receiving opportunities to upsell. For each new customer that you acquire, set up an interview within 30 days. The purpose of conducting an interview is to ensure client satisfaction and to create an open stream of communication between you and your customer. However, this interview is also an opportunity to understand your client’s potential to become a bigger customer in the future. During this interview, (which must be done over the phone - not over email!) ask questions similar to the following:

As a salesperson, you are undoubtedly aware of the massive power that testimonials can provide you. However, many salespeople struggle with receiving testimonials because they simply do not do enough to make it a priority. Consider an individual who is trying to get into shape. They may buy all of the right food and even purchase a gym membership, however if they continue to order out every night and never actually go to the gym, their physical appearance will remain the same. Many salespeople face a similar challenge with their testimonials. They provide good service and have a great product. They even have the intention to receive more testimonials yet they are not taking the steps required to actually receive them. Here are a few strategies you can consider implementing to create more testimonial success:

You will often hear that the best way to maintain and grow your current client base is to ensure that you have the best product on the market, or the best customer service. While these factors surely contribute to client success and loyalty, they are hardly the most important factors. The best way to create client loyalty is by building and maintaining trust. ← Click To Tweet If you have average products and customer service yet you have built trust with your client, the likelihood is that they will still want to work with you. However, even with the best products on the market, you will be unable to maintain and grow your current client relationships if your clients do not trust you. There are two keys to building and maintaining trust with your clients. They are so simple, but they are often overlooked!

You did it. You made the sale. The paperwork has gone through and you’re ready to move on to the next prospect and close yet another deal. Little do you know, making the sale was the easy part, maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with your new client is where things start to get messy. One of the biggest problems salespeople face is dealing with the amount of issues that come up with clients after the initial sale is made. Many clients can be high-maintenance, or can be difficult to please. The good news is you can take steps before the sale is made to ensure that you are drastically reducing the chances of such scenarios arising. 1) Don’t Sell To Everyone There is a certain amount of information you can gather about your prospect prior to making a sale. The problem is, salespeople get so wrapped up in trying to close a deal that they disregard their judgment as to whether or not the prospect will be a right fit. Don’t fall into this trap! Be confident enough in your own judgment and abilities to become selective with who you choose to work with. Think about it, if you make a sale with a client who wastes a considerable amount of time (you could be using to close more deals), is that initial sale even worth it?

Are you properly using business reviews to your advantage? They’re great tools for businesses and salespeople yet they’re often used the wrong way or simply not used at all. Business reviews should be conducted at least once a year, or up to four times a year depending on how important the client is to you. Here are a few things to keep in mind when working with a client during a business review.

As the world changes at an increasingly rapid rate, the sales industry has no choice but to adapt and change as well. If you've been in sales long enough, you may remember a time when feature and benefit selling was a great way to create success with your sales endeavors. However, in today’s market, feature and benefit selling is more or less dead. In fact, buyers are engaging in the sales process much earlier than ever before. They may not even know it, but what matters most to your customers in this day and age is alignment. Let’s discuss a few different types of alignment that will help turn prospects into customers.