Stop Selling, and Start Adding Value

Do you consistently look for creative ways to stay in touch with your prospective clients, or do you only contact them when you are trying to close business?

Great sales people form relationships, and establish themselves as:

1) someone who cares
2) someone who helps their prospects and clients stay abreast of important information, strategies, and solutions that will improve their situation
3) someone who's different than the other "sales guys and gals"

So ask yourself this question, "Do I add value and make my prospective clients' lives better when they're in my sales process? How do they view me? As a salesperson, or as a consultant who's bringing them solutions, right now, even if they're not a client."

For example, someone in the business services industry might consider clipping an article from Inc. Magazine or Forbes Small Business, predigesting the content for their prospects, and then sending it with a handwritten note that spells out why it's important to read. Just sending someone an article with an FYI takes no effort, and most business owners are too busy to read stuff. Nine times out of ten, it'll get skimmed or put in a stack. But a simple touch can make all the difference. If you predigest the article and tell your prospect something like, "Bob, I saw this article and thought about our conversation the other day about salesperson compensation, grumblings from your salespeople, and not knowing how to deal with it...Well, Bob, this article explains how a similar company used a blend of individual and team compensation strategies to improve morale and sales results! Take a look and let's talk about it next week."

This of course, is a simple example. But, do you realize how adding the messaging that draws on a prior conversation, and predigesting the article for the person, is the one step that most people in a sales role DO NOT take. Just leaving that one step out reduces the effectiveness by tenfold.

Why does it work? It's simple, effective, and it lets your prospects know you are really listening to them, that you care, and that you are looking for ways for them solve their problems, right now. Of course you may need to change the article or source for your industry, and change it for your prospects and their unique needs, but the point is, you want to always be positioning yourself in your prospective customers' minds, and with your existing customers, as someone who is always looking out for their interests and concerns!

What does this have to do with sales? Well, it's a truism that people buy solutions, not services. They want the hole, not the drill bit. And people will buy from you more often, the more solutions you provide them while they're in your sales cycle. If you think of your sales process as a Value-Add endeavor, you will undoubtedly increase your sales results.

So where are you adding value? Or, are you just pitching the sale?