High-ticket items are a whole different kettle of fish. The decision to buy can take weeks or even months. Those of us in charge of selling high-ticket items need to be doing much more than simply touting our product’s features and benefits; instead, we need to work closely with our prospects to understand who they are, what their needs are, and how our product can meet those needs.
Add value by leveraging opportunities to help your prospects out. Perhaps you’re trying to persuade them to buy a product that will help them with problem x, but in the interim, you could send them a useful resource. Perhaps you can offer them a consultancy call. You could possibly give them free tickets to an event as a gift.
The worker overheard the client mention their hunger to someone in the background during a protracted troubleshooting call. The employee placed the client on hold while placing a pizza order for them. An employee instructed them to answer the door when it rang 30 minutes later because it was a pizza delivery. Understandably, the customer was both surprised and excited.
“One crucial metric to determine the success of your business is the amount of value you provide.” Given the fierce competition, you must go above and beyond what is customary and consider how you can best serve your clients. ” – Sajjad Shahid, Ecommerce Community Manager at Cloudways. A Managed Ecommerce Hosting Platform.
Relationship Selling, Think Small to Go Big
Techniques for relationship selling
Utilizing the following relationship selling strategies will help you improve your sales interactions:
Connect on a personal level
Finding common ground and getting to know someone personally are two of the most important steps in developing any kind of relationship, including ones with customers. You should engage them in conversation that goes beyond small talk and find out about their hobbies or personal lives apart from the sale.
Some ways to connect with your customer include:
Be a good listener
It can be simple to start rambling during sales conversations about why someone should purchase your product due to its impressive features or benefits. However, if you connect with the client by speaking less and listening more, you are more likely to close the deal. When you listen to the customer, you can better understand them and adjust your sales pitch to address their needs and challenges.
Some ways to implement active listening into your interactions include:
Show your expertise
Show that you have a thorough understanding of both your industry and the industries of your customers to establish yourself as a reliable and trustworthy resource. In order to strengthen your sales pitch, you should be able to respond to inquiries from customers about, for instance, how your product or service compares to others in the sector.
Additionally, you should be knowledgeable about the news and trends in your customers’ industry and how your business is responding to shifts or satisfying new demands. Having discussions about current events in the industry will also strengthen your relationship because it will allow you to demonstrate your interest in their company and your knowledge of it to them.
Add value to customers lives
Even if it has nothing to do with the goods or services you are selling, adding value to your customers’ lives will help you establish credibility and win their trust. Customers will be more interested in speaking with you if you do this because they will feel like your conversations are worthwhile.
Some ways you could add value to your customer include:
Be honest with customers
Relationships can be harmed by dishonesty, but you can keep your customers’ respect by always being truthful with them. You shouldn’t deceive customers by giving them false information or omitting certain details. They will be grateful that you told them the truth rather than letting them learn it later.
They will likely respect your honesty and may recommend your services to other potential customers if you let them know if you realize that your product or service is not the best fit for their needs, even if you don’t end up making the sale.
Show your authentic self
Being sincere in your interactions with customers will go a long way toward fostering a relationship with them; if you are enthusiastic about and confident in your product, then doing so should come naturally to you. People are aware that no one is perfect, so they will be understanding if you don’t always know the solution right away or occasionally make a mistake. You will be more relatable and the customers will feel more at ease when dealing with you if you demonstrate your humanity.
Prove that you are reliable
You must keep your promises to your customers, both big and small, if you want to earn their trust and loyalty. Breaking those promises could harm your reputation and the relationship you have with your customer.
Going above and beyond your customers’ expectations as frequently as you can is another way to demonstrate your dependability. This can be accomplished by meeting deadlines and going above and beyond to provide the services or goods that were promised.
Be patient during the sales cycle
When selling expensive items, it’s especially crucial to exercise patience because such purchases typically necessitate a lot of back-and-forth discussion and follow-ups with the customer. Keep in mind that your customer may be making a big decision here, so try not to rush or pressure them.
Patience also helps when objections arise during the sales process. Take the time to reassure your customers or investigate the issues they raise after letting them speak without interruption.
Continue to provide value after the sale
After the customer purchases the product or signs the contract, relationship selling does not end; you should keep in touch with them to preserve the relationship. By doing this, you are demonstrating to the client that you value them as a customer, not just as a source of revenue. Every few months, try to follow up with your customers to see how they feel about your product and to see if they have any questions or concerns.
You can also get in touch with them directly:
What is relationship selling?
Building relationships with clients and potential customers is a priority when using the relationship selling technique to close deals. The salesperson emphasizes their interactions with customers rather than just the price and other details in order to sell a good or service. When a salesperson builds a personal rapport with a customer, they are more likely to develop loyalty toward a product or service. Because they feel valued by the business, this familiarity helps retain loyal customers and attract new ones.
This strategy is effective when selling expensive goods or purchases that require a greater level of commitment because these customers typically need to consider their options more carefully and spend more time making decisions. You must convince them that they can trust you because they want to be sure they are making the right decision. Relationship selling enables you to do that because you make an effort to understand your clients’ needs and provide personalized justifications for why your product or service is the best fit for them.
Examples of relationship selling
Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales can both benefit from relationship selling techniques, as shown by the following examples:
Relationship selling for B2B sales
The relationship selling method is effective in the lengthy sales cycles and expensive goods and services that are typical in business-to-business sales.
Example: Adam is negotiating a $50,000 contract with a cybersecurity consulting firm on behalf of his employer, which sells cybersecurity learning solutions to businesses. Adam researches the most recent market trends before speaking with the client to be ready for inquiries about how his business is responding to changing customer demands.
Adam spent the majority of his initial conversation with the client listening to their needs and addressing their questions. He promised to find out and send a follow-up email by the following afternoon when he did not know the answers to all the questions during the call. Additionally, he noted any personal details he learned about the client, such as the fact that they lived nearby Los Angeles and had a young child who was interested in computers.
Adam made sure to bring up these particulars on subsequent calls by inquiring if they had been impacted by local wildfires recently. Additionally, he sent the client an email with details about a free introductory computer security course his business provided that the client’s kid might find interesting.
After weeks of negotiations, the client agreed to the terms of the contract. The customer responded to Adam’s note of gratitude by appreciating his effort and personalized service, including the recommendation for their child.
Relationship selling for consumer products:
This sales strategy typically works with expensive or valuable purchases, but it also applies to consumer goods.
For instance, Anna has been visiting the same hairdresser for six years. She keeps going back to this hairstylist because they do an excellent job on her hair, but the regular visits over the years also developed a close bond between the two of them. The pair’s relationship feels more like a friendship than a business meeting because they discuss their interests and personal lives during appointments.
Through these repeated visits, the hairstylist also learns about Anna’s hair requirements or preferences and is able to offer advice or make customized recommendations. Now that she has a hairstylist, Anna feels a strong sense of loyalty and trust that they are looking out for her best interests. Anna will continue to visit them because they provide specialty services that hairstylists who are unfamiliar with Anna cannot.
FAQ
What is an example of relationship selling?
For instance, Anna has been visiting the same hairdresser for six years. She keeps going back to this hairstylist because they do an excellent job on her hair, but the regular visits over the years also developed a close bond between the two of them.
What means selling relationship?
“Relationship selling” is a sales strategy that places more emphasis on the exchanges between the customer and the salesperson than on the item’s cost or specifications.
Why do relationships sell?
Enhancing salespeople’s interpersonal relationships with their clients and customers is one of the main goals of relationship selling. Without establishing a working relationship, clients might feel like numbers.
