Harmen Mander | Patient Sales and Marketing

 

Harmen Mander | Sales and marketing is a waiting game where timing and preparedness are more important than your slick pitch!

Have you ever wondered about the main complaint of the average person with regards to sales and marketing? It is that too often we, as professionals, simply regurgitate a whole bunch of facts and figures about how great we are and how you should buy my product or service. Sales used to be the real villain as portrayed by the endless stereotypes of "snake oil salesmen" and the like in our social consciousness but now marketing has come to the fore of being just as criticized by the general public. As a society we are inundated by commercial messaging telling us to buy this or that and for the most part it is something that is ignored at best and reviled at worst.

 

How can you turn the tables in this climate of perceived hostility that customers now have against being sold to or marketed to? The answer is to be less active and more passive. Even the phrase "selling to" or "marketing to" points to the direction of the problem: we feel that by making strenuous and persistent efforts we can convince someone to do something that they would not otherwise do. The truth of the matter, however, is that people do what people want to do. Have you figured that out yet? All you can do, then, is to make yourself available and make each interaction count.

I am not advising that you stop selling or marketing to your customers. Rather, continue to persist in refining your message and communicating directly to customers about their needs and how you can help them. Then move on and spread the message without expecting or trying to force a response. What you will find is that customers who are interested will let you know, will ask questions and will themselves become involved in the process of buying from you. Along the way, your focus should be to maintain your posture and get to know and educate your customers without being the slightest bit aggressive or demanding. Don't you hate being forcefully sold to yourself? Then why is it that we treat our customers as if they are any different from ourselves?

Patient sales and marketing does not mean that you let the customer run the process. Rather, what you are waiting for is for them to become genuinely engaged. If a customer asks about your product or service then don't just give them the information and send them on their way but rather seek to understand their situation and motivations. Each step of the sales and marketing process, each conversation you have with your customer should be about building a relationship. Both the customer and yourself will figure out after a few conversations whether or not you are a fit for each other naturally. Instead of trying to impress your customer with how good your product or service is, impress how much you care about them and what you do.

Harmen Mander | Focus on being a consummate professional. After each interaction make sure your customer comes away feeling satisfied that they have been able to express themselves and that they were heard and that they matter. This is the real art of sales and marketing, to be available to help facilitate your customer in every reasonable way. It is because you perceive a need of theirs that you can fulfill that you are involved in developing a rapport with them, not just to sell them something. When you can genuinely convey that feeling, customers will learn to trust you and will return to you again and again. Your job is to enable them to see your vision by being approachable and interacting with them meaningfully.