Two-Faced or True-Faced?

“This is going to hurt you worse than it hurts me,” I’d hear just before getting my rearward region spanked into next week. Whenever I used to hear this phrase – which was shockingly regular – I used to think, “Then why do it?” I mean, can’t we spare some pain for BOTH of us by overlooking that little melted-crayon-in-the-EZ Bake incident?

Didn’t work that way. Found that out when I had children. It was one of those “upside down truths” that you appreciate with age.

Later on, my early sales training had brainwashed me into thinking that manipulation and aggression were actually the more tender side of selling. When various closes and techniques were being discussed one day, an older, quite wealthy salesman halted the conversation with, “I don’t ‘sell’. I just give people reasons to buy.”

From that moment on, it stuck. My whole “sales” idea got turned upside down (or right side up!). Earning trust, giving useful ‘buying’ information, and truly counseling people with the good and bad side of a product or service came much easier. Sales “closes” were more often the work of the customer themselves. This rid the anxiety of over-selling and gave sincerity to the “Congratulations” for making a good decision.

This approach allows you to be true-faced, not two-faced.

The wealthy salesman made another comment, more powerful than the first that proved he was ahead of his time. Ignoring This Shift Can Kill Your Online AND Offline Sales…

That path lead me and Hudson Ink into the world of “two step” marketing; first getting a request from a customer for more information, and following that with a conversation that would lead to a sale, or not. Either way was/is fine. Another bit of upside-down truth:

You get the sale by creating a customer; not the other way around.

Web Marketing further confirms the success of this buying pattern shift. Consumers can access mountains of information that didn’t formerly exist. Their new-found empowerment has led to a sometimes hard-to-swallow set of “old” sales and marketing dogmas. The hard-driving, “close early, close often” salesperson is increasingly frustrated. Websites that employ sales overkill are labeled “spammy” and avoided similarly.

Sites like Zappos, Amazon, even WalMart, realize that transparency aids the sales process. Relationships are built before the sale and increase closing (conversion) rates. Openness and resistance to “hard-sell” also increases referral rates and positive online reviews.

Customer Retention results soar with gentle non-salesy recontact. This is why we’ve seen Customer Retention sales absolutely explode in the recession-weary world. People want the relationship, and reward it handsomely.

Contractors who invest in Customer Retention are getting excellent returns now. (8% of your Total Marketing Budget toward Customer Retention can trounce any other 8% in any other media with its hand tied behind its back. Want a FREE in-depth report and free sample of ‘The Ideal Customer Retention Sales Strategy’? Click here.)

Lesson: When you craft and cultivate relationships, you forgo “hard selling,” though your sales increase. There are no “closes”. There are only “openings”. You merely continue the conversation, advising, “being there” for them, and gaining more business, faster, as a result.
Oh, the remaining sage advice spoken to me by the wealthy salesman? “Salespeople don’t sell the most; Advisors do.” More than a pithy comment, it’s true. Confirmed by MarketingSherpa.com in a recent study. Advisors outsell ‘salespeople’ 4:1.

Be an advisor. Then you too can be true-faced.

Questions:

1. Does your marketing talk more about you or about how you solve customers’ problems? (Change the “we” stuff to “you” stuff. Don’t be afraid to give free advice.)

2. Is your Customer Retention marketing budget more or less than 8% of your total marketing? (If below 4%, you likely have a steady stream of “forgotten” customers going to the competition. Click for a full Customer Retention report.)

3. Do you have “old style” salespeople or “old style” marketing that are sales-focused and performing less than they did just 3 years ago? Make the shift.