"Relationships feed on credibility, honesty, and consistency."
Scott Borchetta
In my blog, Are You Building Relationships Or Burning Bridges? I asked this question...
Are you focused on building authentic and credible relationships with your clients?
You can be credible, reliable and loving but if it’s painfully obvious you only have your own interests at heart people will see through your charade. They will call you out for what you are, an empty suit.
CREDIBLE RELATIONSHIPS
Trust. You can't form a credible and healthy relationship without it. Trust is the driving catalyst of buying and this is at the center of establishing credible relationships.
Your ability to build trust and credibility is mission critical to maintaining healthy business relationships. Lack of credibility and how believable you are, will cause your clients to withhold trust. Lack of trust in a business relationship costs you your clients and diminishes your ability to consistently succeed in sales.
Credibility = Trust + Expertise + Authenticity
Building and keeping credible relationships is not simple and straightforward. You must authentically invest in order to build a credible relationship. This means it takes careful planning, consistency, discipline and heart to nurture relationships in order to become an integral part of your clients' lives.
You simply can't do this with a monthly call, a quarterly visit, a semi-annual visit or the classics... "I'm checking in with you" or "Just touching base."
Care + Compassion = Connectivity
MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS MATTER
Building meaningful relationships and connecting with your clients is mission critical to your sales success. I encourage all of you... figure out how to build meaningful relationships by understanding that we as humans crave and value relationships.
Credibility and true meaning provides:
- Connectivity (knowing we're in this together)
- Support (knowing we're helping each other)
- Validation (knowing we feel the same way)
Relationships are a part of human nature. We crave and value relationships. It's wired in our DNA.
"The more you give, ultimately the more you receive."
Are you personally engaging with your clients?
Are you authentically investing in building meaningful relationships?
THE LITMUS TEST
Are your client relationships?
REAL
In a business world full of empty suits and sales facades, being real and transparent with your clients is completely nonnegotiable. I believe without this one can be labeled a commodity.
I sincerely believe transparency and being real:
- Creates the foundational layers of trust
- Creates a strong positive relationship where you can build loyalty
Without loyalty, you're a commodity
Transparency and being real is intentionally baring your soul to your clients by showing the true version of yourself. Many in sales have lost their identity do to fear of rejection, lack of self-confidence, a broken sales heart, or lack of fulfillment.
Being real, being genuine, being authentic... isn't this what your clients crave? Authentic sales professionals are real. They don’t masquerade around as someone they’re not. They know who they are and are willing to let their clients see it.
What actions can you implement to become more transparent and real?
RELATABLE
Connecting with your clients is vital. You must make them feel like you really care and this means stop looking at them through your dollar signed glasses.
When was the last time you shared with one of your clients how you really felt?
We as human beings want to be heard, we want to know that we matter and we just want to be loved (or even just liked). When we feel accepted we perform better, we become a bit more relaxed we don't come across as being insecure. Can you relate?
I believe being relatable in sales will allow you to stand out from the competition. I believe your clients are waiting for you to show them who you really are and to share your story.
When you’re relatable, it’s easy to spark a conversation.
When you're having conversations, be present and be there. Your clients should be made to feel like they're the only thing that matters. Speak from your heart. So many can tell when you’re being sincere or not. When you start communicating with authenticity you'll find that the trust and relatability factors soar.
Show your human side and your real story, you'll be surprised at how well you may connect.
What can you do to become more relatable?
REFERRABLE
Referring means your best clients are continuously introducing you to those like themselves or those that they hang out with.
With predictability, how many of your clients refer business conversations your way? I believe the way you build predictable referrals are based on relationships, experiences and stories.
Could your current clients refer you with confidence based upon your story?
In order for you to become referrable you must give a rip about your clients. Your clients are the lifeblood to your success. No clients, no business. Think of a servant led mindset and lead with your heart to serve them and bring about a positive change. Make the commitment to yourself and spend quality time with your clients so they understand your story.
Being referrable will make your name shine and stand out whenever matters relating to your expertise are discussed.
Questions for you to think about...
- How many of your clients know your story?
- Those clients who know your story how willing are they to promote your story?
What can you do to become more referrable?
SIMPLY CARE
"If you truly care about your clients, then they’ll care about you!"
In an environment that is becoming increasingly competitive, salespeople must focus on building meaningful relationships with their clients.
- Become genuinely interested in their business
- Be on the lookout to help them do better business
- Connect with meaning rather than just contacting them to sell them something or waiting for them to contact you.
Meaningful relationships do matter! Discover the power of relational selling at Selling From the Heart.
I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.
Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.
You can find more material inside Selling From The Heart.
In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
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