Harrison Baron here, in this blog I want to tell you guys about six essentials that most salespeople are doing wrong time and again.
And, find out why their businesses will never grow as long as these things are done improperly.
My first big tip for you is to go get yourself some sales training.
Training yourself by pumping money into your education is worth its weight in gold.
If you can't afford sales training, or the sales training you desire is too far away, then go get yourself a book.Get yourself a few.
It doesn't matter how many you decide to get, the goal is to surround yourself with knowledge and study each of them like they are the Bible.
There isn’t a single book to teach you everything, however, reading all those different books will begin to build up a process and allow you to understand how to get a sale and ultimately raise your chances.
I have gone through sales training through Sandler, even had a couple of the coaches from that experience on my podcast.
Despite the fact that I've taken their course for over a year, I still read new and old sales books.
My point is, it doesn’t matter how good you are or aren’t, you can always benefit from reading someone's perspective on sales because each addition of knowledge just fine-tunes your own skills.
Most salespeople never even pick up a sales book, let alone get training on how to do their job better.
That’s a destructive approach.
A salesperson needs to be flexible and adaptive, and learning from what's around you is the best way to grow and ultimately succeed where the rest fall short.
My second big tip for you is just as simple:
Ask your clients if they would be a referral for you.
If you are not asking your existing customers for referrals on a semi-regular basis, then you’ve effectively denied yourself potential sales.
The worst-case scenario is they deflect you with something like this; there's nobody I can think of, or I have a few people I'm going to be seeing in a couple of weeks, or I don't feel comfortable giving you a referral.
And if they say "I don't feel comfortable giving you a referral, " then you need to re-address your sales approach before you destroy your business.
This is very effective for people involved in contracting and insurance, people who feel they’ve been helped or simply given special treatment rarely hesitate when referring to others.
Sometimes it’s a customer bragging about the deal they got, or they are sharing with a less fortunate friend whos overpaying for the same services, either way, that spread of word is income for you that you shouldn’t ignore.
Easy money that comes to you and all you have to do is ask them to refer you.
Even if they don’t actively refer you at that moment, the fact that you approached them with that intention leaves the thought “referral” in their head like a seed, and down that line, that seed could always sprout into an unexpected sale for you.
Number three, nurture your clients.
One of the most common themes I see with salespeople is they are not nurturing their clients.
And I'm not saying want them and dine them every week. Jusr touch base with them regularly.
See how they're doing, ask how the family is
Show that you care.
If you care, then you are already setting yourself apart from everybody else.
99% of the people in the business world do not care.
They're there for a paycheck.
If you show the slightest little bit of caring, you are going to set yourself so far ahead of your competition.
It's insane.
And it's so hard for me to even speak about because it's that powerful nurturing your clients.
That way, when the time comes for a contract renewal or something like that, there is no question they are coming back to you.
And heck, if you can even come back to them when that time comes and save them even more money.
Or even if there are issues, if you took them out to dinner, you ask how their family their kids are how they're doing school, nine times out of 10, they are going to stay with you because they want to have that relationship.
They want to know that the person they're dealing with actually cares when they have an issue.
You have to pick up the phone and speak to them.
The chances are good that if you nurture a relationship with them, then they are going to refer your business.
It's that simple.
Do a good job, care about your client, and you become ahead of everybody else. It's incredible.
If you know that certain people hang out with them, then ask for referrals.
If you have a bunch of customers that are already doing business with you, then ask them for feedback that could provide value to them.
Make introductions to your friends who could benefit from the exposure and possibly make a sale they couldn’t make otherwise.
There are so many ways to leverage your contacts, and sadly I see so many salespeople neglecting that.
It's unfortunate because they're leaving so much money on the table when it comes to caring for their clients.
Networking is the lifeblood of sales, and it doesn’t have to start and end with a single customer, use that one customer, and spread that out that network with your friends and theirs to reach a clientele you could never access before.
This all begins and ends with taking the extra time to treat your clients attentively and with care.
Customer acquisition is the hardest thing, and my 5th tip for you, this one drives me insane.
Leverage social media, nearly everyone has a smartphone, so use their connection to the internet and media to connect them to your business.
There are many ways to acquire customers using social media.
If you're a realtor, then post photos of a house, go live on youtube or Instagram showing off a house, it doesn't matter.
What does matter is posting up current content that people can view on your profiles like LinkedIn and Facebook.
If you're a salesperson, and you think doing the same thing that all of your competition is doing is going to put you ahead, then you are mistaken.
The best businessmen and women are the ones that take the new and open-minded approach; don’t limit yourself when the best tools to expand are free and easy to get.
Take that time to go outside your comfort zone if need be, and create videos or pictures, put yourself out there despite how nerve-wracking it is.
By doing so, you will get better and at the same time begin creating a recognizable relationship with customers beyond your physical reach.
Don’t worry about how to make them, or if you may need to spend more money, etc.
There are countless walkthroughs and guides available for you for free, not to mention all the free apps and software out there as well to help you edit your videos.
The fact of the matter is, the tools are there, and all they require from you is some time investment to explode your customer acquisition.
Here is an example of what you have to gain:
I have a great friend of mine who's a realtor right around the corner from where I operate.
He dominates the market.
This guy sells 140 homes and more per year, and the majority of his workday is spent on social media.
He is up at the crack of dawn, using every outlet at his disposal, staying in touch with customers through email, and asking for referrals when he can.
He's doing everything that other realtors are doing and more, that is why he's so successful.
The mind-blowing thing about his work ethics is that it all barely costs him anything.
He pays somebody to help manage his social media, and that maybe costs him 200$ a month, but his ROI is 20x what he spends.
That extra effort that he could either do himself or pay someone to manage for him is bringing him in money that would otherwise be out of reach.
This is the kind of opportunity that you want for your business.
Ask your customers what their biggest challenges are on a day to day basis.
You aren’t expected to have an answer.
However, by asking, you can accomplish two particular things.
One being you may actually have an answer to their problem yourself, or through one of your connections, two being you've furthered your customer connection.
Reinforcing that relationship with a customer will only increase your business financially, but also it's social standing.
A business loved by its customers will grow itself through social media and the personal networks your customers have.
The problem could be as simple as a customer trying to keep up with the stuff they post on their personal or business calendars.
For whatever reason, maybe they are too busy to check it, or the system they have is just ineffective, or maybe they are just unskilled with computers.
As a caring businessman you could suggest to them a program that you use such as HubSpot, that’s one I like, as a means of helping them solve their problem.
A simple act like this is what turns a one-time customer into a loyal or returning customer.
At other times I've had customers choose not to take my deal.
Then out of curiosity, I asked those customers, “What is your biggest challenge?”
And simply because I showed interest, they decided to sign up with me, because I showed interest in them personally and was willing to go the extra mile to better their situation.
Even if I couldn't solve the problem, the act of helping and offering help is more important than having the answer.
If you don’t have the answer but know someone that does, then, by all means, go ahead and connect them with that contact.
That in itself helps a fellow businessman and raises the respect that customer has for you and your business.
I hope these tips help you and your business as they have myself and many others.