“Feedback is a gift. Ideas are the currency of our next success. Let people see you value both feedback and ideas.”
Jim Trinka and Les Wallace
The consummate sales professional, runs their own business. They do their best to appease their clients, satisfy their needs and keep them loyal to their brand.
How can you be sure your efforts bring about the desired results?
If you fail to continually find out what your clients actually think about you and your service, you'll never be able to give them the best customer experience they deserve. It's their opinions about the experience they have with you that is helpful information to use to adjust your support to fit their needs more accurately.
FEEDBACK FOR BREAKFAST
To truly serve your clients is to listen to them. Intently listen to their "voices" through consistent and constant feedback. You MUST treat your clients like kings and queens, providing everything to match their wants and needs all the time.
How do you know if what you're doing is working? How do you know if your clients are happy with their experiences or with your company? What do they like and dislike? How are you keeping up with what's going on inside their company?
You might be saying to yourself, "Feedback for breakfast?" but yes, feedback is the breakfast for sales champions. The best thing you can do is to go to your clients and get feedback.
"Forget the Wheaties, oatmeal, or the All American Grand Slam, Selling From the Heart Champions eat feedback for breakfast."
I'm a huge fan of Deb Calvert and her book, "Stop Selling and Start Leading", from her book...
"When you give your buyers feedback, you are giving them a gift. In turn, they'll understand what works and what doesn't work in your interactions. When you seek and respond to feedback from your buyers, you differentiate yourself, set an example, and make it easier for them to hear your suggestions."
We must look for honest, candid and sometime uncomfortable feedback from our clients. Sales professionals know this makes them better. In order to get great feedback, one must become vulnerable and shall I say, surrender.
COURAGE TO ASK...
How can sales professionals take their "game" to the next level? Simple, feedback will set you free! It's the feedback you get from a cross section of your clients that will provide the avenues to grow the relationships.
A starting point, place your clients into three buckets. For example, sort your clients by...
- You love them and they love you
- Challenging
- Middle of the road clients, ones you just don't hear much from
The best place to start gathering feedback is from those clients who have been placed in the "middle of the road" bucket. Why? You may not see them on a consistent basis and you may tell yourself, "all is well" but in actuality they may become vulnerable to a hostile takeover.
It's these "middle of the road" clients which I bet is 75% of your clients that need the love, the attention and the enhanced client experience.
REESTABLISH THE RELATIONSHIP
The opportunities for growth inside these "middle of the road" accounts is enormous. I'm sure you've established some kind of relationship but the question becomes, "How credible is the relationship?"
Dig in and ask...
- What can I do differently?
- What can I do to improve or enhance my service to you?
- What can I do to help you do better business?
I'm asking you to rock the boat on this one because a comfortable mindset with these clients is a terrible thing to waste. Think of the all the competitors circling these accounts just waiting for the right moment to reel them into their establishments of paradise.
"Feedback is the breakfast of champions"
Deepen the relationship and solicit feedback. Show you care! Show you mean it! Your clients are your most precious asset!
INVEST THE TIME
Without feedback, how do you know how well you're doing? Invest the time to enhance the experience. Investing in client feedback is a source of business growth. The opportunities for referrals becomes mind-blowing.
"Take care of your clients and they will take care of you"
Live up to the promises you made and what was expected of you when your clients decided to do business with you.
Your clients are the most important stakeholders to you and what you do. This is why it's mission critical to hear their feedback. However, collecting client feedback is the first step to ensuring an outstanding experience. It’s what you do with the feedback that truly matters.
I will end with this... If you have 10% of your client base that are raving fans then my challenge is for you to set a goal. The goal is to double the amount of raving fans you have by a certain date. Then once this happens double it again.
Watch what happens to your sales growth! I need not say any more!
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!
I'm writing a book. The title is Selling From the Heart! I'm pouring my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it.Enter your email address here in this hyperlink and you'll be updated as the book is released. You'll also become part of our launch team. As a thank you, I'll have some special bonuses waiting for you!
You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.
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, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
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