Jealousy is an ugly thing in personal relationships, but it should be a staple of a salesperson’s personality, says Paul Cherry in his new book, “The Ultimate Sales Pro: What the Best Salespeople Do Differently.”
“Ultimate Sales Professionals are professionally paranoid. They don’t take customers’ love for granted,” Cherry states. “They know that customers will continue to profess their love even while negotiating with a competitor, because they don’t want you to leave them in a lurch before the new deal is in place.”
Cherry recommends asking customers on sales calls to get specific about how your company has been delivering value. Ask them if they have seen an increase in productivity, revenue, reduced expenses, reduced time on the job, better turnaround, quality or whatever metrics apply to your value proposition.
Cognitive dissonance posits that if you get your customers to articulate your value — to actually say it out loud — their subsequent actions are more likely to align with what they told you.
The “why do you love me?” discussion opens up opportunities to do more business with customers. “There’s usually some way you can add even more value through an upsell or cross-sell,” Cherry says. “If a customer loves you, get them to love you even more.”
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