Your customer is your bread and butter. If they aren’t happy, more than likely, you aren’t happy. As a salesman your livelihood depends in part on managing your customer relationships. If you are a good relationship manager and a good salesperson, your customers will typically be happy, and if they aren’t you will be able to find a solution and resolve their issues quickly, and they will know it.

One thing that all sales people recognize is that most of their customers have a wealth of choices when it comes to which services or products to buy. This can be a positive or a negative, depending on how the sales person positions their own offering. Making sure that you bring your offering with your consumers’ needs in mind will help you stand head and shoulders above the competition. Going in with a standard sales pitch just won’t work in this economy and with all of the available competition.

What can you do to make sure that you stand out?

• Hot Buttons: Do your research. What makes your client tick? Do they have a particular problem that needs solving? Why are they changing providers or products? Find out the answers to these questions and you are well on your way to closing the deal.
• Memberships: Does your potential client base belong to a particular group or association? Establish a relationship with the local chapter president and ask to speak at their next general meeting. This will quickly introduce you to a large group of potential clients, and will also lend you an air of credibility.
• Relationships: Work with others who might have insight into your customers, such as non-competitive suppliers, and find out what their challenges are. Can they give you advice for dealing with a specific problem that they have encountered that might come up during your relationship with a customer? Have a solution before an issue becomes a problem, and win a customer’s loyalty.

When you know your customer, anticipate his or her needs, and provide them with a solution, your customer will not need or want to look at your competition. It might take a bit more research on your end, but that research on the front end of a relationship will certainly pay off throughout your relationship with your customer.