Would you walk across the room and ask a complete stranger to marry you? Not likely. Surely, you would invest in building and nurturing a relationship before you popped the BIG question.

This principle is no different when applied to the process of winning new customers. Sales and Marketing Gurus cite that it can take up to 9–12 positive impressions to get a buying decision from a customer!

In any lead generation exercise, you will face one of three scenarios after making contact – Yes, No or Not now. We love the ‘Yes’, hate the ‘No’ and are usually unsure of what to do with the ‘Not now’. You can significantly improve your sales results if you determine to nurture the ‘Not now’ responses.

So, what should you do with ‘Not now’? I suggest that you gain permission to communicate with them in the future. This enables you to build the relationship and continue to create positive impressions.

Here are 10 things you can do to nurture leads:

1. Send them useful information (not about your products)
2. Send them samples of your products
3. Share testimonials from your customers
4. Show results of your work with other clients (after getting permission from those clients)
5. Make them offers to trial your service
6. Provide leads for their business
7. Introduce them to people who may be able to help them
8. Invite them to tradeshows, tours, demonstrations and events
9. Include them in contests and promotions
10. Give them something FREE!

Lead generation must be an on-going, nurturing process to generate sustainable and incremental sales results. So, if you don’t get a ‘Yes’ immediately, don’t be disheartened, be prepared to nurture the ‘Not now’s’.

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The Christmas and New Year Season is just around the corner. For most businesses, things slow down and people prepare to take time off and travel, perhaps do some home renovation or just relax. People have more time on their hands.

You might recall my definition of the three things that characterise today’s customers – they are short of Time, Attention and Trust. If your potential customers don’t have time, they won’t pay attention to your attempts to engage them and unless they buy something from you, you will not have the opportunity to build trust and a strong relationship.

So, if December and January are the ‘slow months’, they actually present you with a great opportunity! Your customers and target prospects have more time! It is the best time to meet, reflect on the year gone by and talk with them about their plans for the year ahead.

In addition to them having time, you have a reason to meet. This is when most people welcome ‘tokens’ of appreciation from those they have done business with in the past year – cards, gift hampers, luncheons....

Do you see what I see?

Here is my sales formula for the Silly Season:

Customer has time + You have a reason to meet = Strategic opportunity to discover their unmet needs

If you can discover the unmet needs or gaps that your customers and target prospects face within their current state, you could become the bridge to help them cross over to their desired state. Or simply put, if you can find and solve their problems, you win the relationship.

So, get ready to step up your sales activity during December and January! Begin preparing lists of active and inactive customers, lost customers and target prospects. Contact them and start booking out meetings so that you can start the new calendar year with a strong pipeline of prospects and opportunities. That’s why the season is not silly, its strategic!

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Last week, while in the City, I stepped into a large menswear store, with a ‘SUIT SALE’ sign on it. As I walked in, there was not a soul in sight! I noticed someone hiding behind the cash register. He looked up at me, almost frowning! Without even acknowledging my presence, he called out to another man, the shop assistant, (who emerged from a dressing room) and said to him sternly and loudly, “You need the practice. Attend to this customer”!

The man asked me what my suit size was and proceeded to help me try on a few. After a couple that were either too small or just didn’t fit right, I was starting to get annoyed. To make matters worse, he insisted that one of the suits that was obviously tight, looked great! It was evident that the shop assistant was not yet competent for the job. Feeling unwelcome and poorly served, I left.

That store is paying top dollar for their prime CBD location, discounting their goods and yet when a prospect walks in, they blow the opportunity. It’s no wonder their store is empty.

This example does not apply to retail sales alone. In 2002, one of the accounts I managed chose a $1,500,000 Enterprise Resource Planning (E.R.P) solution largely because they liked one supplier a lot more than the other!

Do you develop rapport with the people you meet?

Developing good rapport sets the tone for the discussion that follows. You can capitalise on it to lead into an open needs-focused discussion, which will then help you provide compelling and winning solutions.

In short, good rapport increases sales.

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In May 2002, my client, a company known for manufacturing breast pumps and related maternity products in the U.S, made the long awaited decision on their  Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. I was following this development  very  closely  as  we  were  keen to do the post-purchase implementation work that followed.

The two largest E.R.P vendors in the U.S - Oracle and SAP - were competing over this deal. I went to meet the Company's I.T manager and find out who had won the deal. She smiled and said, “We went with Oracle.” I asked, “Why?” and she said “We just liked them better!” This was a $1,500,000.00 deal!

While I am not reducing the importance of substance, I am highlighting the value of good rapport and relationship building. People buy from people they like.

Are you placing enough importance on being more like-able to your customers? It will make your job a whole lot easier.

To continuously improve your own and your team's like-ability, here are a few suggestions:

1. Do the basics well - Smile, be warm and welcoming, be prompt to respond, remember birthdays and special dates.
2. Find your customers interests and develop an interest in them. In high value deals, some sales people will spend hours preparing around the customer’s personal and business interests.
3. Make an intentional effort to build incremental rapport with every customer interaction.
4. When required, go the extra distance for your customer.
5. Periodically ask for feedback on your performance and work hard to improve on the feedback your receive.

Do this and you will enjoy stronger, growing relationships and more success with high value opportunities.

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