First Gain Trust Then Gain Business
Think back to your successes in sales. Do you recall how a successful sale actually began? What was the sequence of events getting the sale started? How did you get the sale on track? What role did gaining trust play?
Helping you understand the WHAT/WHY, yet more importantly, the HOW and WHEN in buy/sell relationships has been the underpinnings of my role since 1998, Dan Lemke. We have been trying to help both the naturals and journeymen improve sales and personal performance by Gaining Trust, Then Business.
If you are a client of ours, you may recall the focus is helping to understand going-to-market is all about the PROSPECT/CUSTOMER’S needs. We have coached to all we meet your product is important to differentiate your company from the competition, but, it is also important YOU should be differentiated.
Helping an individual differentiate themselves has been the most difficult part of my consulting work (example: Chris’s Story). I and my partners are convinced we have found a way to help you differentiate yourself. In January of this year (2010), my longtime mentor Mike Bosworth invited my partners and me to attend an event about a breakthrough set of methods he has been developing for the past two years. Mike Bosworth’s story - The Missing Link
That event and working with Mike has helped me to understand there is more to going-to-market than a consultative approach to sales and marketing. The missing link is making a human connection with prospects and customers, in a manner that can INFLUENCE and INSPIRE them, and do it ON PURPOSE.
The essence of this human connection in the beginning and throughout a relationship extends beyond just the buy/sell cycle ‘details or steps’ that buyers and people need answers to in order to make buying decisions.
During and after this event with Mike I began to review in my mind successful sales I had made throughout my career. I have also reflected on my observations in working with top sales people over the years. What I discovered was that the HUMAN connection was as important as any relevant FACTS or STEPS that I used or went through during the buy/sell cycle.
As I reflect on my successful sales and continuing relationships with clients, it came down to the development of ‘trust, credibility, integrity and the human connection’ with each of them. All of us at The Vision Group© have come to realize that stories have been used for generations as part of the development in human connections. Using stories is an effective way to connect with people and to differentiate ourselves from other competitors our prospects and clients may meet.
Telling stories can be used to create images of how things could be:
- to help people have a picture of complex concepts
- to envision how solutions may help meet their needs to relate
- to how failures could occur and have occurred with other clients
Stories are used for all kinds of purposes. We have come to realize that stories can and should be used in selling, and, there is a way to teach you how to do it with conscious purpose and quality during your selling, managing, and coaching activities.
Stories are used to begin relationships with buyers, employees, peers, partners, and vendors. Stories are and should be used continually during an ongoing business relationship with clients.
The human connection and building trust is fundamental to how we all learn to relate and carry on relationships with others. Building a human connection should become part of the consultative selling processes that are used in business today.
Click on the following link for a pictorial of using stories when we meet people. Whether the people you meet are for business or personal reasons.
Gain Trust Then Business
Rediscover Connecting
Effective Sales Prospecting
Effective Prospecting Workshop
Examples of How/When
Meet Buying Committee
Part 1
Manage Buying Evaluation
Part 2
Manage Transition Plan
Part 3
Differentiate Ourselves
Buyer Evaluation Plans
Value Justification
Handling Buyers Risk
Decision Making is Higher
The Missing Link in Sales
(Mike Bosworth's Story)
Mike Bosworth and
Vision Group
Connect, Inspire, and
Influence - on purpose
(recorded webinar)
Mike Bosworth Leadership
