Giving Clients What They Want

As a professional in the promotional products industry, very often our focus is on getting our clients what they need.

But if you really want to get to the money, then it's likely the focus should really be on getting them what they really want...

Not just in terms of our products, but in terms of their own biggest, most serious desires. Here's what I mean.

Every prospect you meet has an objective, a goal, a mission, an agenda.

Some want to get noticed. Some want to get clients. Some want to get rich! Some want create a specific marketing result in their business. Some are in search of advancement. Some want to look good to their boss. Some want to put their kids through college. And some just want to do the bare bones minimum amount of work to get through the day until it's time for them to go home. Everyone's different. So here's the takeaway...

Deliver on Their Objectives and The Sky's the Limit!

If your prospect wants to bring new clients through the door now, create promotions to do that, because if you're talking to them about exposure and branding, you've lost them.

If your client wants to reward the performance of her people, create a promotion to make that happen, because if you're talking to her about mugs and t-shirts, she'll think you're just not paying attention.

If your prospect is interested primarily in his own career advancement, making more money or paying to put his kids through college and your recommendations won't in some way facilitate that goal and help make it happen, he'll probably want to find someone else.

Naturally, all our sales presentations eventually have to turn to product since that's what we sell, but that pivot should never take place until AFTER our clients are absolutely convinced that the recommendations we make to them are going to help them accomplish their REAL objectives, their real goals, their real desires.

With every client contact, we should determine what motivates this person to take action? What gets a response? What appears to interest this person? What makes them sit up and pay attention? And what makes them tune out?

Decades ago, I heard Tony Robbins use the term "sensory acuity," and I just love that term. Sensory Acuity. Being intricately tuned in to our surroundings. Being exceptionally aware of everything important that's going on around us. Think about it. What skill could be more important than that in sales?

Being focused like a laser on our prospects and clients -- their needs, their desires, their interests, their moods, their beliefs, their feelings -- this level of awareness is an underutilized skill, it's an asset, that the world's best salespeople have and the world's worst sales people lack.

So How Tuned In Are You?

Once you've gotten a solid read on exactly what it is that motivates your prospect -- what makes them respond well and what makes them respond badly -- then it's simply a matter of focusing every aspect of your selling process on delivering that result for your client.

So if your prospect wants to look good to his or her boss, your presentation and all your recommendations should be geared toward making that happen. Making your prospect look good to the boss. What's the boss looking for? What causes the boss to respond positively? What, specifically, does the boss want to accomplish? Then, you make recommendations to your client which accomplish that. When you become successful at this, they're no longer just buying mugs and t-shirts from you. They're buying advice, recognition or maybe even job security.

By understanding this -- the fact that you need to sell them what they really WANT -- you are far more valuable to your prospect than the dabblers and sidlers in our industry who think their job is just pushing product.

While your competitors are just selling caps, you're selling confidence.

When your competitors are selling writing instruments, you're selling results with those writing instruments.

When your competitors are selling swag and stuff and trinkets and trash and tchotchkes, you're selling solutions that move them toward their goals.

If you want to know what your clients really want, you need to ask questions... a LOT of questions. But it can't be like an interrogation. It needs to be a conversation.

And it starts with knowing the questions to ask.

Not just any questions, the right questions. Focused questions. Questions designed to reveal the outcomes your prospects and clients really want.

If you're an Inner Circle or AIM SmartEQP member, be sure to login to the member's area, and hit the Prospecting and Sales section on the nav bar to download a copy of our Sales Questions: The Ultimate Industry Needs Analysis -- it's 108 questions you can ask your prospects and clients to better determine their needs, focus in on their interests and create results that will make them money and you money.

Are you actually going to ask anyone 108 questions? Of course not, but... you will be perfectly positioned to beat your competitors, because you can pick the best of the best questions every time you know you'll be getting in front of someone with the ability to buy from you.

If you're not already an Inner Circle or AIM SmartEQP member. I almost feel bad for you at this point. What are you waiting for? If you're new to the industry, visit www.topsecrets.com/gettingstarted. If you're established... If you're a smart, focused, independent distributor doing a reasonable volume of sales, then visit www.SmartEQP.com.

What are you doing to give your clients want they really want -- and to sell them what they really want to buy? If you get this, and internalize it, it will make a huge difference in your results. Thanks for listening, I'll talk to you soon.