Romancing Your Customers Into A Sale

When a guy picks you up for your first date and hands you a business card that says, "Hey Baby, do ya wanna.....?" most likely you would cut and run. It is the same way with your first contact from your potential new customer. How many times do you go into a store and a sales person immediately zeros in on you and say, "May I help you?" Your first response is, "No thanks, I am just browsing" because you know that when a sales person asks if they can help you it really means, "What can I sell you?" which is the sales equivelant of.."Hey Baby, do ya wanna?"

When a new customer contacts you they do not know you and do not trust you. It is your first date. If you go on and on about yourself and your product that does absolutely nothing to gain their confidence. They already know that you have a product and that you want to sell it to them. You are a business. That's what you do. What they haven't decided yet is if you are someone they want to do business with.

Do not focus on your product during a first meeting (or email). Most customers have already researched a product and are fairly knowledgeable about what they want. What they really want to know is if you will provide the quality of service they want and demand.

Active listening is the one thing that will convert a browser into a customer. Put their needs and interests ahead of a sale. You may be asking yourself how the heck that will put money in the bank. Let me tell you. If you can turn that first contact into a friendship that customer will not only buy from you, they will keep buying from you and they will tell their friends and family to buy from you as well.

Let me give you an example. In my marine canvas business we often have customers coming in with a beat up old cover that maybe needs a snap replaced or a minor repair. They are a bit nervous coming through the door because they know they need a new boat cover but for whatever reason they are not really prepared to make the purchase that day. They fully expect us to do a sales pitch to them. Or they expect to pay handsomly for a repair. Instead, we take a look at the cover and begin talking to them about their boating season, what kind of boat they have, where do they do their boating, etc. We small talk with them a bit. If it is just a snap or two that needs replaced we will pop the snap in for them and maybe make a comment that they may not get too much more time out of the cover because it is "almost" worn out. We may talk a bit about the newest marine fabrics that are available today and how well they perform. We do not push a new boat cover on them. IF they ask how much a new cover would cost we give them a price. When they ask how much they owe us for the snaps we say...no charge as it only took about 2 cents worth of materials and a minute to do. They are so impressed with this service that 9 times out of 10 they book a date to have a new cover custom fitted for their boat.

Most other businesses are so wrapped up in making a sale that they would charge $20 for that repair and would never see the customer again. By taking 15 minutes of time to turn that customer into a friend we have assured a minimum of $700 worth of business from him as well as recruited a salesperson for our business because he will then spread the word that we are a good company to deal with.

The biggest misconception today is that an online business is different than a "brick and mortar" business. Customers are still looking for a quality business to deal with. If anything, an online business should be prepared to offer twice as much service because it is harder to build trust without having face-to-face contact.

Do not assume that you can make money online just because you have a website. You do have to work it the same as you would any other business. Whether you are selling a product or a service you still need to romance your customer by giving them value, small talk and gaining their trust BEFORE talking about your products. If you do it right they will ask to buy your product and they will refer you to their family and friends as well. You will not need to "sell" to them.