CHAPTER 2
RELATIONSHIP
SELLING

• The ultimate goal of the consultative seller throughout the selling process.

• Managing the account relationship
• Ensuring that your clients receive the proper service before, during and after the sale

• Present only what the prospect needs to know and then ask for the order.
• Take time to use an icebreaker, if appropriate, to warm up the prospect before discussing product information.
• Keep their attention focused on the objectives for the sales call.
• Are careful to establish a firm foundation for a productive relationship with the prospect.

• a totally satisfied customer contributes 2.6 times as much revenue as a somewhat satisfied customer
• a totally satisfied customer contributes 14 times as much revenue as a somewhat dissatisfied customer
• a totally dissatisfied customer actually decreases revenue at a rate equal to 1.8 times what a totally satisfied customer contributes to a business

• Treat customers like life-long partners
• Become a solutions provider
• Deliver more service than you promise
• Schedule regular service calls
• Develop open and honest communication
• Use the ‘we can’ approach
• Take responsibility for mistakes made
• Be an ally for the customers’ business

• Simply wait for the problem to develop
• Focus only on making the sale
• Over-promise and under-deliver
• Wait for your customers to call you
• Lie or make exaggerated claims
• Use the “us versus them” approach
• Blame somebody else;
• Knock a competitor
• Focus on your own personal gain

• The Approach
• Identyfying Needs
• Making the Presentation
• Overcoming Resistance
• Gaining Commitment

• 40% spent on gaining rapport and trust

• Think the way your customer thinks

• Higher than ever

1. Gives us tools to aid in the process
2. Can also cause a loss of personal contact
3. Has taken over low end transactions

• Qualified prospects
  • Need
  • Money
  • Authority
• Prospecting discussed in depth in Ch 7

1. The Success of the process depends on this
2. Active questioning and creative listening skills are needed

• A feature is a fact that is true about a product or service, tangible or intangible.
• A fact becomes a benefit when it fulfills a need to the customer.
• Benefits of the product or service are the application of features to the needs of the prospect
• A seller should be thoroughly familiar with the features of the product or service
• Knowledge makes it possible to describe the benefits

• It is up to the seller to qualified the buyer.
• Resistance comes because an atmosphere of mutual trust and cooperation was never fully developed.
• Adjust your personality to the behavioral style of the prospect well enough to establish rapport.
• There may be problems beyond your control.

• The closing stage is often the longest and most tedious stage for the traditional seller.
• When a qualified prospect says," No," today’s consultative seller tries to discover
1. whether the prospect really needs the product or
2. Whether the prospect understands how the product can help solve a problem.

1. Relationships keep satisfied customers coming back
2. Customer satisfaction is an asset to you and your firm
3. The relationship begins after the buyer says "yes."
4. Cognitive Dissonance (buyer's remorse) must be reduced

1. Listen and learn from customers and employees
2. Continuously improve the partnetshop
3. Teamwork through mutual trust and respect
4. Do it right the first time
5. Get your whole company involved

• It has grown to take advantage of diverse skills and personalities needed to sell complex products
• The steps are the same but rules are needed
• Usually at least one seller and some technical specialists
• The buyer may have a team also

• Customer gets involved with more than one person
• More accurate need definition
• Very useful if product is technical
• Different individuals bring more selling skills

• Requires special planning
• Must have a leader
• Must agree on objectives
• Must be better rehearsed

• Salesperson and Attorney
  • Good guy/Bad guy scenario
  • Makes salesperson more careful
  • Stresses the importance of the meeting
• Opener and Closer
  • Just as in baseball (starting pitcher and the closer)
  • Some salespeople are good at opening the sales relationship while others are masters at closing the sale
  • Both are very important-- a symbiotic relationship