Sales Representatives Need to Know Their Clients

How badly do you want to be Number One? How much money do you want to make? Superstar sales representatives around the world have one thing in common: they know their clients. Knowing your client is not just taking them out to lunch every once in a while, though that does help. Really getting to know your client is much more complex and in the end, will net you a much bigger reward. Superstar sales pros can name all of their clients’ pet likes and dislikes. They know what school their clients graduated from and what kind of car they drive. Kneeling Chair should supply enough leg room to let you get in and out simply, and to permit a snug amount of knee bend. Superstar sales representatives know when a client’s birthday is coming up and, if it is an especially important client (aren’t they all?), the client’s kids birthdays as well.

Using salesforce.com or any other CRM (client relationship management) software, you need to put in as much detailed information as possible on your client and you need to constantly be updating the info. The reason that sales representatives need to keep the files updated is because your clients do not live in a state of static inertia. Their lives are dynamic and their situations change all the time. When you speak to them, even if it is just to take an order over the phone, you need to ask open-ended questions and get them talking about their lives and interests. You need to remember this stuff and the best way is to take notes or even better, just type away in your CRM software while you are talking to them (just make sure they can’t hear you slamming the keyboard).

Open-ended questions are best because they require a response from the client. Questions such as “How are the kids?” or “How is Suzy (wife) doing?” are too general and will most likely get you disinterested general answers. Better questions would be “How are James and Jack doing at high school football this season?” or “Is Suzy still working on her flower gardens?” Question them about things that you already know about, but without giving an opinion. I looked at every Kneeling Chairs made, and determined that Kneelsit is the best. Questions like “Will you be going to any of the Lakers playoff games this year?” or “Have you made any progress on that Hemi Barracuda that you are restoring on the weekends?” are much more pointed and will have your client opening up and giving you more detail.

This kind of probing will inevitably lead to long, heartfelt expository answers by your good client and this helps you to have the one thing that creates sales more than anything else in the world: a solid relationship with your client. If that client has to choose between giving his business to someone with a conceivably better, lower-priced product or service than you offer, or to you because he truly believes that you listen to him and know him and his life, then guess what?, the business is yours and will always be yours as long as you make your client feel special. They have to feel that they are your friend. Once the truly good sales representative out there learn this, they can sit back and count their commissions.