The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

This week, one of our clients was talking about how she returns to the same car dealership every three years, like clockwork, and orders another upgraded version of the car she loves to drive. 

A co-worker turned toward her and said, “You’re not just a customer.  You’re an annuity.”

The statement was worth a chuckle, but it really got me thinking. The moment you begin to assume that a Key Account’s spending will always be there—when you start to take it for granted—that’s when the relationship is most at risk.

Long-term relationships can lead to mistakes. For example, you might think, “I’m going to be a few minutes late… but (Bob) will understand, because he knows how I operate.”

I recently sat in on a sales presentation where the person doing the pitch spent all of their time looking… wrong. They were looking at their paperwork and, in a sense, reading aloud to the prospect.

My wife and I recently bought a lawn tractor from a major big box retail store. It should have been a fun, easy experience, but it turned into a headache. The salesperson who was trying to help us with our purchase was repeatedly interrupted by other store personnel who had a wide variety of problems or questions. At times, other coworkers would interrupt just because they needed to use the young lady’s computer terminal. (Apparently, we were invisible customers or our near-$2,000 purchase was not as important as the other person’s issue.)

Most people go through their day telling people what they want to hear. They don’t consider it lying, just coloring the truth to make it more pleasing. As salespeople, you might color the truth about why you want an appointment. What if today, you told the client the real reason you want to meet with them? What if for one day, like the character played by Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar, you had to tell the truth? Would they be more, or less likely to want to meet with you?

Is your Rookie seller screwing up? We recently added a new puppy to our family, and when deciding which puppy to get we followed all the right selection steps. We carefully considered the most important characteristics and traits to us, and found the perfect puppy for our family. She doesn’t shed, she is the right size, and personality wise she is fitting right in… so why is my perfect puppy peeing on the floor?

Okay, it was worth a chuckle. Indeed, it was worth the effort to pull my cell phone out and take a picture of the sign, indicating a wading pool depth of one and a half feet.  And then it added, “No Diving.”