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3 Reasons we lose Sales - Final

Reason 3 : Not Building Enough Rapport

Closing takes a long time or it just doe not happen at times. This is a clear indication that you have not spent enough time in building a strong and close relationship with the customer. 

Relationships are vital for closing deals. Deals are much more difficult when you lack relationship or a rapport with the potential client. The 3 factors which decide how strong this rapport is can be summed up as 

Know, Like and Trust.

People buy from people who they Know, Like and Trust. Miss any one of these and you will lose the sale. Matching the competitor’s price is the last thing that will get you the sale.  Seasoned sales persons soon realize that it isn’t the Price — it’s the Rapport.

Get the potential client to Know, Like and Trust you – so that you can leverage this to try, buy, repeat (and refer). Let us understand these 3 factors a little more.

The key is to systematically develop Touch Points, Processes and Offerings. So, get them to 

  • Know you through ads, articles and referred leads. Try to identify who is your ideal client. You can also create a Touch Point Map, to identify each place where you interact with the customer and how to make it a positive experience. 
  • Like you through website, physical presence (reception, offices, marketing materials, eMail templates and design, newsletter, etc.).
  • Trust you through marketing kit, white papers and sales presentations. This often involves a face-to-face meeting. Sometimes, this can be the trickiest part of sales.

Too many sales persons attempt to jump from Know to Buy.  And then wonder why it’s almost impossible. Sales persons must keep looking for ways to gently move prospective client to trust, if they want to make the close easy.

 Rapport can also be built by using well-known and proven techniques from NLP. Discussing these techniques is beyond the scope of this blog. Those interested can connect with me at marketing@drsunilpevekar.com
So, follow the Know, Like Trust path. 
Do not try to leap from Know to Buy.

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