Talk is Fine But Actions Sell!

Talk is Fine But Actions Sell!
Five must-do activities to get your customers talking about you!

“We live in two worlds,” Dan Ariely of MIT’s Sloan School of Management observes in his book Predictably Irrational. “One characterized by social exchanges and the other characterized by market exchanges.” His point is an important one for those of us in sales, because it reminds us that there’s far more to a top-raked salesperson’s job than just getting people to buy a product.

All business is personal. Being personal means you need to go beyond the transactional part of what you do, and connect with people in a manner that’s authentic and engaging. If you’re having trouble closing new deals and meeting your sales targets right now, it’s worth your time to look at both the market side and the social side of your exchanges with people. The market side involves what you sell. The social side, on the other hand, involves who you connect with and how you do this, so that you remain top-of-mind with people.

Previously, we talked about how you can do this by reinforcing a sense of place in the minds of your audience. Now let’s look at the field-tested activities you’ll need to be doing to get the conversational ball rolling with your customers and prospects.

1. Go beyond the telephone

The business telephone in your pocket or on your desk is still a vital part of sales—make no mistake about it. Today, however, it has tools to complement its immense power. Twenty years ago, you’d make a sales call because apart from face-to-face meetings, this was really the only way to connect with your audience and have a conversation in real-time. Now, with social networking, conversations are streamed and shared via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Even text messaging has a role to play. It could be a text message to a customer’s cell phone. I have a client who is a key decision maker at one of the largest agricultural companies in the world. He’s also notoriously hard to reach. As a result, we do all of our negotiations about contracts via text message. My point here is this: direct communications has evolved beyond just the telephone. You can too.

2. Give gifts that are useful and have value

A gift for a client don’t have to be large or elaborate, but it does have to be suitable to the needs of the person you’re giving it to…otherwise what’s the point, right? For example, it could be a Starbucks gift card with a thank-you note attached, or even a gasoline gift card (ideal for the client who is often on the road). Know someone who enjoys reading? We’ve sent more than a few copies of Honesty Sells to clients and prospects, along with a short note attached. There are some of you who sell in environments where corporate gifting isn’t allowed. In that case, maybe you’ll need to be more creative, but one thing is for certain: you can always send a thank-you card to a customer. The gesture will be appreciated and remembered.

3. Connect via direct mail

Direct mail often gets overlooked these days in favour of instantaneous communication tools, such as email and texting. However, it still has a valuable role to play. People get busy and are overwhelmed quickly by the sheer volume of email and voice mail messages that they have to sift through on a daily basis. The same is not true for direct mail when it’s targeted at someone you already know personally. A thoughtful, handwritten letter to a client has the power of showcasing your people skills and your willingness to invest time into have a personalized touch. These are qualities that other methods of communication just cannot mimic.

Click here and learn all five must-do activities to get your customers talking about you!