The series is from Chartered Accountant, consultant and author, Jeff Borschowa, from his book, 8 Pillars for Exponential Business Growth. The series is focused on how to find new and better ways to integrate innovation and technology to enhance the customer experience and improve efficiency in the accounting process.
The sales process focuses on closing deals, signing up new customers, and maintaining relationships with existing customers. Basically, this is the activity that converts your marketing leads and prospects into paying customers. If you are not comfortable with sales and negotiations, you need to gain some level of comfort and experience quickly. I recommend sales training programs for all of my customers and students, regardless of industry. I believe that our sales ability determines the level of success that we achieve in life. If you view “sales” as a negative concept, change your perspective to focus on relationship building and exceptional customer service.
The truly gifted salespeople that I know all put relationships with customers and prospects first, closing a sale second. They identify problems and recommend solutions, focusing on the benefits of their product or service. The key to customer relationship building is taking the time to listen and to offer real solutions, not standard answers. There are many tools that can assist you with this process.
You will need to practice sales to get new customers and to encourage existing customers to purchase additional services from you. Building relationships with customers has an added bonus, you get to know more about their business. That puts you in a unique position to tailor your products and services to meet specific needs that they may have.
As you get to know your ideal customers, identify products or services that you can offer that complement what they are currently buying. Bundle these items into a single package and use this to upsell to your customers. This alone will dramatically improve your sales and your average sale value per transaction.