Do you think of yourself as an employee? If you answered “yes,” try this on for size. Think of yourself as the owner of your own business, whether you are employed by a small or megacorporation. Assume the mindset that you are working for yourself. The customers in your territory are your sole responsibility.
To earn the right to ask the customer to buy from you, you have to give each customer dedicated account preparation and focus. When you hold yourself accountable to them, the buck stops with you; you become protective of their account, and you focus on providing the best possible customer service.
How to Ask the Customer to Buy from You
From my over 30 years in sales, I found this to be true:
If you don’t give each customer dedicated preparation and focus, you leave money on the table, you lose sales, and you lose the respect of potential customers – who by the way could have referred you to new customers.
More importantly, you know you let down your company, your customer, and yourself. That’s a crummy feeling, isn’t it? I know because I made this choice many times and felt terrible afterward. Oh, and the chance to qualify for that company incentive trip to Paris kees moving farther and farther away.
Take Responsibility
When you take responsibility, a shift in your thinking occurs. When you give each customer dedicated preparation and focus, you earn the right to ask the customer to buy from you. Not only that, you become the one who has the most influence over customer loyalty.
When you take responsibility when issues arise, you stop blaming the company and the departments that serve you. You become more detailed when submitting paperwork and uploading digital submissions. Your communication with other departments improves, resulting in fewer errors and more accurate, possibly faster fulfillment.
Shift your Mindset
If you shift your mindset to assuming responsibility for your actions and the customer’s journey, you will be seen as a professional with integrity and high standards – a representative that truly cares about their clients. When I adopted this mindset, I became a positive, can-do, top sales representative who earned the respect of her customers as well as her management.
I found that when situations came up, I didn’t wait for someone else to fix it. I took responsibility and found the solutions instead of complaining, blaming others, and doing nothing. I learned how to earn the right to ask the customer to buy from me.
Bottom line: if you don’t put in the effort, you can’t expect to get much in return. Nor, do you deserve it, because you didn’t earn the right to ask the customer to buy from you in the first place. And, you should know that your choice to be unprepared speaks volumes to your customer. They can see right through your lack of preparedness.
“What’s wrong with this company that they don’t train their people and let them on the street to waste my time. If they don’t put enough energy into getting the right reps, their products must not be any good either. And, if the rep isn’t prepared or knowledgeable, then they don’t take their job seriously, and they certainly won’t take care of me.”
If you can relate, try this….
Tip #4: Take responsibility for the customer’s journey and give each customer dedicated account preparation and focus.
- Treat each customer’s account as you would want a rep to do for you.
- Earn your customer’s attention, and discover inventive ways to serve them with your products and services. When you do, you will sell larger programs as well as more products and services.
- Your confidence level will increase and so will your commissions when you focus on account preparation.
Here are some other ways to help you make a solid commitment to account preparation.
Time block your week.
- Carve out specific mornings, afternoons, or whatever amount of preparation time is needed for your product or service, and stick to it.
- Time-blocking will:
- Help you concentrate.
- Keep you organized.
- Give you more freedom during your sales day.
- Allow you to get more done.
- Put your attitude in a better place.
Prep as many accounts as you can in that time block.
- This allows you to be ready to see that customer, who canceled their appointment on you last week, at any available moment in time.
- Realize that, as you build your presentations, you can use the same prep for other customers.
- This saves you time, and you’re seen as an expert because when you are ready to make your recommendation, it will be honed to perfection.
During account preparation time:
- Avoid your email.
- Let your phone calls go to voicemail.
- Don’t visit with your colleagues.
- Schedule your calls around your account preparation.
- If you have a customer that can see you tomorrow, but you’re not ready, don’t shoot yourself in the foot and take the appointment. Don’t take the appointment until you have earned the right to be in front of them by doing their account preparation first.
Commit to doing thorough account preparation, and you will:
- Earn the right to ask the customer to buy.
- Provide better, well-thought-out recommendations that are the best solutions for your customer.
- Earn the trust and loyalty of your customer.
- Be perceived by your customer as an expert in your industry.
- Be more likely to be referred to new leads by your customers.
- Sell bigger programs (more products and services).
- Win more company sales contests.
- Be perceived as a superstar among management and your colleagues.
- Be on your way to a high six-figure income.
Why it Matters
Shift your mindset to taking 100% responsibility for your customer’s journey and think of yourself as the owner of your own business. If you give each customer dedicated account preparation and focus, you will earn the right to ask the customer to buy from you. As I said before, it doesn’t matter whether you are employed by a small or megacorporation. It matters how you show up, how you represent and interact with your company, and how you serve your client.
If you liked this, you will love my other tips in this 5-part series:
Tip #2: Check in with Yourself
Tip #3: Become an Expert in Your Product Knowledge
What is Your Sales Conversation Mindset?
Do you Sell or do you Serve? Learn how to shift from ‘selling’ to ‘guiding’ your customers to a successful outcome EVERY TIME! Get Your Copy of Chiqeeta’s Bestselling Book Today!
How to Earn the Right to Ask the Customer to Buy from You: Tip #3
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