At Legacy Retail, the sales function is an important part of what we provide our clients. So learning and fine-tuning our craft in this area is important for us to stay on the leading edge. Contributing our thoughts and ideas to the retail community is also important in working together to help everyone grow.
So we’ve compiled five inspiring quotes alongside our thoughts on what they mean to us.
“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service.” – Brian Tracy
A fundamental precept of sales is that buyers are people. And people will buy a product or service because it solves some issue they’re struggling with. So taking the time to understand your buyer’s context and challenges and then addressing those creates far better outcomes than simply pitching to them. Strive to be a solution rather than simply looking at your buyer as a potential sale.
“If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.” – Bob Hooe
Once you’ve built your business, it’s easy to take your focus off your buyers and start focusing on the next big opportunity. It’s important to fight this proactively within your organization. Developing the business is one thing; keeping the business focused is another. It’s paramount to stay plugged into what’s going on, grow in your understanding of the business-client relationship, ensure that you fulfill your commitments, and look for new opportunities to solve your buyer’s challenges. At the end of the day, they must feel that you are a partner in their business.
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
No company has 100% success. And real failure is when you make a misstep but don’t learn from it. Sometimes this is on the selling side, and sometimes it is post-sale. It can be hard to accept, but you must be willing to accept and deconstruct your mistakes so you can improve your presentation and negotiations.
“Ninety percent of selling is conviction and 10 percent is persuasion.” – Shiv Khera
Knowledge of your product and customer is core to understanding how your offer is a positive for your buyers. It allows you to solve a challenge, creating a clear rationale for why your customer needs what you’re offering. This puts you in a dynamic position to share the solution in their language and context and propel your meetings into discussions about solving business challenges, not just a game of sales/buyer ping pong.
“Great sellers go into a meeting with multiple next-steps; this allows them to proactively respond if a plan does not unfold as planned.” – Tibor Shanto
Preparation is often confused with personality or having good pre-existing relationships. Everyone can be prepared. By engaging your customers and buyers on their terms and in their business context, you’ll enable deeper conversations about how to move forward. It is so important for you to think about the options for the execution of great ideas. You cannot present great solutions and expect your customers to figure out the execution on their own. You must extend your idea of success to your customers, so they apprehend exactly how you’ll serve them. Always be thinking about the next three things that have to be done.
If there is one thing we know, buyers and salespeople people come in all shapes and sizes, and no one size fits all. Understanding where our buyers are coming from and being prepared to work alongside them to address their challenges is one of the most important things you can do. Combining well-thought-out solutions with detailed plans gives you the best opportunity to develop and expand your relationships and business.
We take this approach internally at our company and in how we work with our clients and customers. We have built a team of amazing retail professionals, tools, talent, and knowledge to help you achieve your goal across the spectrum of retail channels. If you are looking for some help with your retail sales and growth objectives, we would love the opportunity to speak with you and demonstrate how we can provide you with some great solutions. To learn more, click here.
