c36 JWBT014-Roberts October 15, 2008 4:59 Printer: Courier Westford, Westford, MA
WEEK 36
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148 52 Weeks of Sales Success
and your commitment to serving their best interests, and they feel more comfortable buying from you than from a salesperson who appears ambitious to the point of being desperate.
If you have not quite achieved the status of top-producing sales- person, I recommend that you stop waiting for the time when you have enough money and do it now. Drop the profit motive. Give up the mentality of bottom-line thinking. Stop worrying so much about sales quotas. Start thinking about thetop line—the people—and es- tablishing personal relationships with your clients and business contacts.
STOP HUNTING, START FARMING
Salespeople who are constantly hunting for business are constantly disappointed and tend to burn out quickly. If you consider yourself a member of this group, then perhaps you need to stop hunting and start farming. By transforming yourself from hunter into farmer, you change your entire lifestyle. Instead of suffering through feast or famine, you establish a steadier flow of referral business that can keep you well fed throughout the year.
The transition can be quite a challenge, particularly if you’ve had the hunter’s mindset drilled into you from the beginning of your career. The easiest way to conceptualize your new role is to think of yourself less as a salesperson and more as a friend to your clients.
In other words, stop selling and start nurturing relationships.
Business consultant and visionary Terry Brock refers to this as R-Commerce (Relationship-Commerce). Instead of focusing your mind and energy on the quantitative aspects of selling, such as gross sales and your bottom line, you focus on the qualitative aspects of selling—building mutually beneficial relationships. This approach requires a significant investment up front, but it pays handsome dividends over time. By establishing productive relationships, you sow the seeds that produce a bumper crop of business for many years to come.
GET CONNECTED
According to my research (at weddings and funerals, class reunions, and family gatherings) everyone knows at least 250 other people. So I view every encounter I have with someone as a chance to connect
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Nurture Relationships 149 with 250 others. Establish a personal connection with everyone you meet, including the people at the restaurants you frequent, where you have your car serviced, the grocery store, the gas station . . . everywhere. You never know where a new source of business or a new idea will come from.
You should also take advantage of these more formal networking opportunities:
r
Meet people on the job. Get to know everyone you work with.r
Get involved in professional organizations.r
Join your trade association and take on a leadership role.r
Join a community service organization, such as the Rotary Club, Kiwanis, the Lions Club, or Habitat for Humanity.r
Join the local Chamber of Commerce and attend meetings regularly.Tip: Opt for soft networking over hard networking. Soft net- working is more social and less business-oriented. Follow the age-old advice of “Make friends before you need them.” And make sure everyone you meet receives your business card.
GATHER CONTACT INFORMATION
Not everyone you meet will buy something from you, but almost everyone you meet can benefit you in some way—perhaps by selling you something you need or steering business in your direction. Start collecting names and other information and building your database.
Whenever you meet someone new, whether you bump into them in person, over the phone, or online, use your sales skills to ask questions and gather the following information about the person:
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Career, work, or major in school.r
Interests and hobbies.r
Goals or dreams.r
Special talents.r
Contact information.r
Birthday, anniversary, and other personal information.c36 JWBT014-Roberts October 15, 2008 4:59 Printer: Courier Westford, Westford, MA
150 52 Weeks of Sales Success
When I return to the office at the end of each day, I scan in all of the business cards I collected and then pass along any additional details to my assistant who types the information into Microsoft Outlook. I don’t want to lose any shred of valuable information, so I try to tell the entire story of the person, including where and how we met and everything that person told me.
KEEP IN TOUCH
A relationship is like a bicycle—you have to keep pedaling to keep it moving forward. Maintaining a relationship may not require a great deal of energy, but it does require some regular attention. One of the ways I keep in touch is through my Hour of Power, which I discussed in Week 22. I strongly encourage you to launch your own Hour of Power.
GIVE
When you give people memorable gifts, they tend to remember you as well as the gift. The first gift you should present someone is your business card. For people who already have your business card, I recommend giving them one of the following:
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Your brochure.r
An inspirational book.r
A thank-you card.r
Flowers or candy.r
Good deeds.You will learn more about giving in Week 44, where I discuss the Platinum Rule.
Ralph’s Rule: While making the transition from hunter to farmer, you may still have to hunt to keep some revenue flowing in, but don’t forget to start planting, so you can harvest tomor- row’s bumper crop.
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