Ranting Again – Dancing with the Customers

Two months is a long time to go without fresh material. Don’t worry; the writer’s strike currently afflicting the American television audience with re-run after re-run wasn’t to blame for my sabbatical. Interaction with potential clients, core customers and working to close deals kept me from communicating with you, the readers of this blog.

That’s what brings me to restoration of the Friday rant and subject matter that is near and dear to a sales manager’s heart: his or her time.

In a given day, you have only eight – 10 hours of time that you can work and dedicate to your clients and potential clients. With meetings with your marketing team, support team, etc., you really have only between six – eight hours a day where you can perform one of the most graceful dances known to mankind: the art of the sell.

Building a relationship with your client and working to convince them of the profits they will reap if they use your product; the demonstrations of the product you give to them; and then the follow-up sales calls to see when their ready to pull the trigger and make the purchase, can be as graceful as watching Emmitt Smith and partner dance on “Dancing with the Stars.” (Note: For those unaware, the former NFL star won the ABC show a few seasons back)

When you find the perfect client who is immediately sold on your product and its viability, the art of the sell is a beautiful dance that is beneficial to both of you.

There is no wasted time or productivity in this sales interaction. However, not all clients can be such a gracious dance partner.

How many times have you had a potential client that could never commit to you, but wouldn’t necessarily say no – a la the old duck and dive strategy employed by Muhammad Ali.

After the initial call and perhaps demo, you receive no concrete communication on the next step forward, which sends toppling over and tripping up the sales process.

Subsequent calls or emails go unanswered, taking up precious time that could be devoted to another client or prospect. Conversely, the person you’re calling and sending emails to wasting their time deleting your message and trashing your email.

All it would take is a simple, “Get back to me in 30 days, when we have a better idea of our budget,” or a simple, “No, we just can’t allocate funds to your product right now.”

Selling really is a dance, but when one partner refuses to go along with the right moves, it throws the whole routine out of sync.

I’m sure you remember going to your first school dance, and the awkwardness of being asked by someone for a dance. You could either say yes or no. If you were shy at first and non-committed, the person asking you to dance would think you were leading them on.

The interaction being the professional salesperson and client should – ideally – be just as simple as this analogy.

Building a solid relationship with a client requires both the salesperson and client to engage in honest discourse. When this happens it makes the deal go that much smoother.

Selling is always beneficial to both parties involved, and working to ensure a smooth deal should be priority number one.

Being non-committal and refusing to give a timetable for when you might be interested in making the deal only throws off the dance.

A “yes I’m interested,” or “no, I’m not interested,” is the best thing a professional salesperson can hear.