7 Steps to Engaging your customer.

Coaching Business Owners to Clarity and Better Decision making

1. Know all the potential customers objectives.

Be conscious of what your customer wants as an outcome of their purchase. They may be. 

• Just looking for information to help them determine who to buy from.

• Uncertain of what they need to know to make this purchase.

• They might be ready to buy.

• They may want the cheapest price yet do not realize the pains-problems the cheapest price will give them.

• Get their objectives and make sure they are asking the right questions.

2. Analyze Your Customer.

All your communication with the customer need to be a two-way conversation. Build a list of questions to ask them ; 

• What obstacles hold them back from buying from you?

• What are their pains?

• What are the gains they wish to get from this purchase?

• What jobs, tasks do they need to complete to make this purchase?

• While you are visiting with your customer determine how important or less important each of these areas are to your customer.

By knowing this information, you will reduce your sales cycle time and engage your customer at a deeper level. This will give the customer increased satisfaction because you have climbed into their shoes and are addressing their most important needs.

3. You Become the Expert.

“Nobody wants to be sold, yet everyone loves to buy.” 

Jeffery Gitomer

You help them buy through becoming the expert in your product or service. If your product is priced higher than the competition show why it costs more and the benefit to them.

• Know your competition as well as you know your own product, its strengths, weaknesses, and compare it to yours

•  Emphasize the key things the customer brought up as most important in your analysis. 

• Convince them you are the expert in this product or service. Everyone likes to deal with the expert.                    

• Get on their side of the sales table, let them know you are aware of the important things they shared with you and need in this purchase.

• Share with them your objective is to help them make the best purchase for them, not you and be honest.

4. Build Your 3 Selling points

We think customers need excessive information, yet the mind seeks an easy path to a solution. Prepare your sales path and assemble your sales presentation with their most important needs from your analyzing of the customer. Put these most important needs into a 3-step process. You can combine their needs into these 3 groups which makes your strategy and message noticeably clear. This makes it easy for them to process and increases their desire to buy from you. We all like things easy, remember the advertising for easy in the Staples commercials.

5. Start Strong, End Strong

You only have 20-30 seconds to engage your customer. Come up with strong opening line that grabs their attention immediately. It is called a 1-Liner and can be a few sentences or a paragraph.  Share with them the problem they have, the outcome they are seeking, 

6. Be Over Prepared for Your Presentation.

You only get one chance at a first impression.  I knew and liked Bernie, he left his job and started an air conditioning business. When we decided to get central air in our home, I called Bernie. He told me all about one of the two air conditioning brands he carried, all of its benefits and advantages. This particular unit was far superior to the other unit he carried and to the competitors’ units. I was 90% sold and told him to set up a time to look at our installation and we would make our decision. He called me back, he apologized, he had sold out of this particular unit. Bernie told me his other air conditioning unit was just as good as the first one. I liked Bernie, yet now I questioned his honesty and never called him back. 

 Practice your presentation out loud and consider all the obstacles the customer may come up with that may stop them from buying. Practice allows you the opportunity to gain confidence in your presentation, and connect the customers most important needs to your solution for their problem.

7. Put the Customers Needs in Front of Yours.

It may go against the grain to you. Yet think of those you trust and use for your own purchases. The businesses that get your money are the ones you trust and like. By placing the customers’ needs and outcomes ahead of yours, they will see you are thinking of them first and will trust you.

• With their trust you can guide them with your attention to the major points they brought up

• Share the problem they have.

• Discuss the solution you have.

• Ask them does this make sense to them to move ahead buying from you? 

• Be ready to address any objections they may bring up and make it easy for them to buy from you.

These 7 steps will get you started on making the changes to improving your customer engagement, shortening up the sales process, gaining you more sales and referrals. If you would like to lean into these 7 tips and leap forward to your success reach out to me for a $50 value, free 30-minute business clarity session.