Whatever happened to good old-fashioned selling? A personable salesman who is knowledgeable about his products, a customer who has the need for the products; they meet and discuss the products, the pricing and the length of the contract. Lunch meeting will be on the agenda for next time and a ballgame will join the two to get to know one another. The deal is finalized over three to four visits and, perhaps, the two families may gather around a meal to introduce the new friendship. Loyalty was born over sharing that bread and life is good.
That sounded like the selling of the 50's to most organizations today, nice warm and fuzzy story that could serve as the ending of a great family movie. Yet, if we examine the story closely, there is no mentioning of competitor's threat, industry trend, share holders demands or rising fuel cost and the Internet selling. Life was much simpler back then, wasn't it?
Today's selling is more complicated than it was 50 years ago, and manufacturers and service providers expect far more of their sales force today than they did back in the 50's. The more competition you have to face, the higher the risk of losing a client.
Today, more and more manufacturers and corporations are focusing on retention to secure a steady income, with which they can manage their spending and maintain profitability. With retention of current clients, companies can usually adjust their spending to post profitability. But, does retention mean maintenance? Or does it have a broader meaning? Let us examine that word “Retention ". To retain anything in life, you have to have a plan to save, protect and polish that thing. In the business world, retention will mean:
• Creating a switching barrier (No expiration contracts, costly penalties for early terminations, lower pricing based on higher volume...etc )
• Involving more departments in the relationship with the client
• Creating a thinking process that helps the client increase their profitability
• Personalizing customer service to support the client on daily bases
The above examples are part of today's Strategic Selling. It is a forced strategy by today's world economy and it is here to stay. And to achieve that strategic selling philosophy, client reports have replaced hello visits, industry trending reports have replaced "How's it going?", and finally, PowerPoint presentations have replaced the paper report.
It is safe to say goodbye to old-fashioned selling, to the personable selling, even to some tactical selling. If you do not know your customer better than he does, you will not achieve RETENTION.
I still remember, People Buy From People but, will that be enough to succeed in today's competitive market place?
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