The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes [114]
When I worked for Charlie Munger, I had a sales rep who was fantastic at getting in the door and terrific at closing sales. However, it was not in his nature to bond with people. He just made the sale and moved on. I started putting the three Ps into place to set policies for bonding permanently with clients. I created mass opportunities for bonding such as trade show parties and award ceremonies (which you learned about in Chapter Seven), but I also had one-on-one trainings and even role-play exercises to teach the salespeople how to ask the kinds of questions that got them involved in the prospect’s or client’s life (as covered in the previous chapter).
In that example we were selling business-to-business where each client can be worth a lot of revenue; hence, entertaining on a grand scale is a wise investment at every turn. For business-to-consumer selling, you need to implement bonding opportunities on a smaller scale. For example, if you own a restaurant, spa, hair salon, or boutique, you need to have procedures in place to make sure your people establish relationships with clients and make them feel special.
Example
Here’s an example of client-bonding mastery. One time I took 18 people to Spago when it was the hottest restaurant in the country. There was a trade show in town, so all my advertisers were there from all over the country—Lincoln, Nebraska; Pine Bush, New York; Albany, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Miami, Florida; you name it. Most of them otherwise might have never had a chance to go to Spago. I had to set the reservations a month in advance: table for 18.
There were three movie stars within 10 feet of our table, which was thrilling for my clients. It gave them something to talk about when they went home and another opportunity for me to bond with my key advertisers. Suddenly, a few waiters and Wolfgang Puck himself (owner and celebrity chef) came over to our table with free samples of hors d’oeuvres. Wolfgang walked over to me, using my name and telling me how wonderful it was to see me. He didn’t say “again,” but it was implied that he knew me, even though he didn’t. What he did do, quite effectively, was make me feel very special. After all, how many people bring 18 guests to Spago?
Additionally, the sight of Wolfgang shaking my hand and telling me how nice it was to see me impressed my clients. It impressed me so much I’m mentioning it almost 20 years later. In the best restaurants, the owner or manager will go table to table introducing him-or herself and seeing that every thing is excellent.
Believe me—if you don’t have procedures for this, this will never happen by accident. What are your client bonding procedures to make sure you are keeping clients happy? How many do you have?
The Cool-Off Factor
Enthusiasm is contagious. When you are with a prospect, your enthusiasm rubs off. The second you leave, the prospect begins to cool off. But your job is to keep the prospect hot on two things: you and the sale.
They need to stay hot on you, not just on what you’re selling. If you made a good impression, you have to “keep those cards and letters coming.” If you didn’t bond very well during the first six steps of the sales process, follow-up is even more important. Remember the story of the company that advertised with me three times to utter failure. Because I followed up so heavily in the face of failure, I gained enough trust to get it to spend even more money—resulting in a dramatic success.
Remember, trust and respect are the largest part of the sale. Every minute that a prospect doesn’t hear from you after you leave their office, his respect falls off. Out of sight, out of mind.
The real success formula for selling:
Trust and respect