Build trust, deliver value to cure lazy sales efforts

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/05/2024 (532 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Almost every salesperson or sales leader will say nothing happens in a business until a sale is made.

While this appears to be true, there is a lot of work required in other areas of your company before a customer has a chance to buy from you. You must have a product or service they see value in using and you must understand a lot more about your customer before you show them your wonderful PowerPoint presentation.

This article is the second in a series discussing the current state of lazy sales and marketing. Leading companies know their winning game plan includes a combination of superior thinking and extremely hard work to win and keep their customers.

There is a lot more to winning at sales than flashy presentations and buying lunch. For the record, not every salesperson is bad; there are simply not enough good ones that use a sound approach to deliver value for their customers.

My background in industry, prior to becoming a certified management consultant, included leading sales teams and being responsible for both marketing and sales functions. These roles provided me with important insights I wish I had earlier in my career. I would like to share some of them with you.

Lazy sales can be evident with a poorly constructed sales call for an in-person visit. Lazy sales can also be evident in a Zoom sales call and it’s also not uncommon to see a poor sales approach via email marketing.

One recent example that prompted me to write this article was an email from someone I do not know.

They contacted me because they sell services to online retailers. I am not an online retailer; I have a management consulting practice and this is clearly indicated on my website.

Even though the message said they went to my website, I am skeptical anyone from their company actually visited to learn a bit about me and the business services I provide. The sales effort was lazy.

While I can gripe about the sad state of the sales profession, I want to present an approach to help improve the success in your organization for those of you willing to rethink and adjust your sales process.

Successful relationships are built on trust. Therefore, every successful salesperson must begin any potential relationship by building trust. This is not done by talking about you, your company and your product when you first meet a customer.

Trust is a two-way street and you must demonstrate trust in order to be trusted.

Here is a three-step process:

You must think “customer first.” I know you may want the sale, but your customer doesn’t necessarily need to buy from you. The marketing function has a major role to play to support the sales team in this step.

Find out what the customer needs prior to the first contact through research and investigation. This can be company-specific or based on trends in their industry to understand their challenges. You will gain a view of the customer from their perspective that will help your company determine if your solution might be a fit or not. This is an essential foundation point for you. This perspective will help establish trust with a potential customer. Seek first to learn, not just earn.

Second, you must link what you learned in Step 1 with the solutions you want to provide. Can you honestly say what you offer will help your customer? I know your job is to sell, but every good salesperson should have a long-term view of building relationships based on trust and value. This mindset provides additional opportunities for you to also think as a solution provider.

The third step is to ensure your entire organization knows and understands how their role supports the purchase a customer makes. Accounting will present clear invoices and receipts. The shipping department carefully packages and delivers the product to the customer. The customer service team supports the entire process. Every person contributes to building a long-term, mutually beneficial, trusting relationship.

Every winning game plan is built to keep the customer. Sales is not about manipulation and deception; it is about honesty, trust and providing superior value. If you have a service-first mindset, you won’t think like a salesperson — you think and act like a trusted adviser.

Tim’s bits: People don’t like to be sold to, but they like to buy. I think about this quote every time I buy something. When your sales approach is helpful and provides value for your customer, you will quickly ascend to the level of trusted adviser and be the one customers select. Trust me, this approach works.

Tim Kist is a certified management consultant, authorized by law, and a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Manitoba

tim@tk3consulting.ca