How to Make a Personal Connection with Customers Seven ways

How to Make a Personal Connection with Customers Seven ways to build relationships with prospects that lead to more sales.

BY Lambeth Hochwald | December 5, 2011| 15 inShare815 Editor’s note: Is your business in need of a sales boost? We’re here to help.It isn’t always enough to create and promote an outstanding product or service.

Often, your sales approach matters just as much as what you’re selling. The most successful entrepreneurs create a connection with the customer by bringing their own personal touch to the sales process. “People buy from people that they like and can relate to,” says Adrian Miller, a sales trainer based in Port Washington, N.Y. “When business owners overlook the importance of that personal connection, they run the risk of losing the prospect to someone else–usually someone who took the time to create a relationship and help the prospect buy something rather than trying to simply sell to them.” Here are seven tips on salesmanship that can help you develop that special rapport with potential customers:

1. Model your business on the corner store. If you long for the days of shopping at a local business where the owner knew your name and your family, try to emulate that experience. For instance, remember one or two details about your customer and bring them up in conversation. “If you know a customer has a daughter finishing up grad school, ask for an update,” says Laurie Brown, who owns a sales training company in Detroit and is the author of The Greet Your Customer Manual (The Difference, 2011). “Everyone likes to feel they’re important enough that someone remembers the little things in their life. It’s one important way we go past viewing customers as a dollar sign to a human who is appreciated.”

2. Ask questions first. Before you launch into a hard sell, take time to probe your prospect. Ask questions that will help your customer explain what he’s looking for. “Once you know that information, it’s much simpler to show how your product or service can satisfy his wants or needs,” Miller says. “Probing is fundamental to relationship building, and the more skilled you are at utilizing open and closed ended questions, the stronger the relationship you will be able to create.” Related: Five Signs You’re Losing a Sale — And How to Save It

3. Court your clients. Selling is a lot like dating in that you have to woo customers and hope they return the attention. “Figure that for every 10 people you want to reach out to, three will want to set up appointments to hear more about your product,” says Mark Faust, an adjunct professor at Ohio University and the author of Growth or Bust! Proven Turnaround Strategies to Grow Your Business (Career Press, 2011). “To get a potential customer to call you back, you have to hook them somehow. Consider emailing them an article you found interesting that’s related to their business and then give them time to respond. Whatever you do, be respectful of their busy schedule.” 4. Talk about yourself. Another way to make it personal: Reveal something about yourself. Just be sure it’s something your customer can relate to and isn’t too personal, suggests Lourdes Martin-Rosa, an American Express OPEN Advisor who helps small businesses win government contracts. “It’s pivotal to connect in a real way. In fact, according to a study [in] the Journal of Consumer Research, if a salesperson shares a birthday or a birthplace with you, you’re more likely to make a purchase from that salesperson and feel good about it.” Related: How to Conquer Your Sales Fears

5. Really listen to the prospect. There’s nothing more insulting than feeling that you’re being ignored in a conversation, says Matt Eventoff, owner of Princeton Public Speaking, an executive training company in Princeton, N.J. “Asking someone a question and truly listening to the response, rather than beginning to formulate a response while the other person is speaking, is so important.” In fact, small business owners may have a distinct advantage in connecting with customers because they are in touch with them so often. “The smaller the size of your business, the more encounters you’ll have and the more opportunities you’ll have to listen to your customers,” Eventoff says.

6. Step away from your computer and smartphone. While it’s often much quicker and less stressful to email a potential customer, face-to-face meetings and networking are far more effective in creating meaningful connections. “These meetings are still among the best ways businesses can establish relationships with decision makers,” says Martin-Rosa. “For instance, if you want to pursue the federal government as a customer, make the time to regularly visit the D.C. beltway. Communications should not be limited to email and phone–though both are important follow-up methods.”

7. Be patient. Like many important things in life, it takes patience to develop lasting customer relationships. Fight the urge to rush the process. “Take the time to explain how your product or service will benefit the prospect,” Miller says. “Be patient as you go about cultivating this new contact. You never want to make a prospect feel rushed or hustled.”

Planning for Next Year? Get a Fix on These Numbers First

Dec6

Planning for Next Year? Get a Fix on These Numbers First http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220742

Apple’s Simple Marketing Manifesto

Dec6

Apple’s Simple Marketing Manifesto

The first glimmer of what was to become tech giant Apple Co. appeared in 1971 when electronics engineer Steve Wozniak developed the circuit board that would evolve into the Apple I computer. But in Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Wozniak says Apple probably never would have existed had it not been for Jobs’ vision for selling the computers in consumer-focused packaging.

In the book, Isaacson describes an encounter between Jobs, Wozniak and Wozniak’s father, Jerry, a rocket scientist who usually discounted the merits of anyone who wasn’t an engineer. During the exchange, Jerry told Jobs (in slightly more aggressive language) that he hadn’t actually created anything and didn’t deserve a 50 percent stake in the burgeoning business. To that, Jobs, still a teenager, began to cry, and said he’d walk away and let Wozniak run the operation himself.

But Wozniak understood the harmony between himself and Jobs, and knew the company wouldn’t exist without Jobs’ entrepreneurial drive. “It was Jobs who had turned his [Wozniak’s] ingenious designs into a budding business,” Isaacson writes.

Indeed, it was Jobs who pioneered Apple’s customer first, a “computer for the rest of us” marketing plan. Instead of creating products they wanted to make, Jobs aimed to produce products that addressed consumers’ needs, feelings and motivations.

By 1977, as Jobs and Wozniak were frenzied, taking orders for the Apple I and looking for venture capital as they developed the Apple II, the men brought on investor Mike Markkula into the business. In addition to injecting $250,000 into the company and becoming a third partner, Markkula penned “The Apple Marketing Philosophy,” a three-point call to action that has served the company well. It can also be an example for other startup businesses.

Point No. 1: Empathy
Apple should strive for an “intimate” connection with customers’ feelings. “We will truly understand their needs better than any other company,” Markkula wrote.

Point No. 2: Focus
To be successful, Apple should center its efforts on accomplishing its main goals, and eliminate all the “unimportant opportunities.”

Point No. 3: Impute
Apple should be constantly aware that companies and their products will be judged by the signals they convey. “People DO judge a book by its cover,” Markkula wrote. “We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.”

What do you think has been critical to Apple’s marketing strategy? Let us know by leaving a comment belowhttp://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/220603

What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Costco’s

Dec4

What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Costco’s CEO

BY Carol Tice| December 2, 2011

The recent news that Costco Wholesale CEO Jim Sinegal plans to retire next year brought back a flood of memories for me. I covered the company for nearly 7 years as part of a full-time retail beat at Seattle’s regional weekly business paper. For me, Sinegal always seemed like one of the good guys — an outstanding example of how to be a CEO. He played a major role in building Costco into the third-largest retailer in the country, creating a model that rewards workers handsomely even while competitors cut benefits. Here are five CEO traits Sinegal has that I wish more business leaders would acquire: 1.Use your products. Sinegal is often clad in one of Costco’s $17 dress shirts, long a staple of the company’s apparel department. He proudly wears them to company annual meetings, too. 2.Be accessible. The thing that blew me away about Sinegal was that his office is in the hallway at Costco’s Issaquah headquarters. That’s right, not even a door that shut. Not even a glass wall between him and the rest of the staff. Anybody can wander by and chat him up, anytime. He also gave me his cellphone number once, where most execs would make you call in through one of those conference bridges or have a secretary patch you through. There are no layers of handlers around Sinegal. 3.Treat your employees great. Costco is well-known for offering above-average pay for warehouse-store workers. The result is low turnover, low training costs and a family feeling to the company. They don’t have to do much recruiting, as current employees are happy to put out the word to family and friends. 4.Stay humble. Despite commanding a $76 billion retail empire, Sinegal is still honest, straightforward and down-to-earth. His desk on my last visit was a cheap, Formica-topped folding table — I think it had been a Costco sale item — and behind him sat an aged, fabric-covered message board. No burnished hardwood executive desk and fancy whiteboards for him. 5.Listen. If there was a store opening across the globe from Seattle, Sinegal was there. He wanted to talk to customers and employees, so he could learn more about how to serve them. What are the best traits for a CEO? Leave a comment and give us your take.http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/220772

Will This Payment App Make You Ditch Your Wallet?

Dec4

Joaquin Ayuso is betting on the future of virtual mobile payments. Early this year, the Spanish-born tech entrepreneur launched Kuapay, an app that allows users to make secure credit card purchases in stores with a smartphone. Users can enter multiple credit cards into the system; they then present participating merchants with a QR code displayed on their phone. The merchants scan the code, and the phone automatically saves the receipt.

“We give people the opportunity to take their wallet from the physical world to the virtual world,” says Ayuso, whose Santa Monica, Calif.-based company has 20 employees. “Instead of carrying around those plastic cards everywhere and swiping them, you actually use your phone to make the payments.”

Users can add any credit, gift or rewards card to their Kuapay account, and merchants are able to set up loyalty programs through the app. Merchants pay a flat rate of 5 cents per transaction, and the service integrates with most existing point-of-sale systems.

Ayuso is no stranger to the startup scene. In 2006, he co-founded Tuenti, a Madrid-based invitation-only social network that has been called the “Spanish Facebook” and now boasts more than 11 million members. He sold the company in 2009 to a major media group for an undisclosed amount.

After raising $900,000 in seed funding, Kuapay is beta testing its technology at select retailers in Southern California, as well as in Spain and Chile. Ayuso is in talks with potential retail clients and plans to launch worldwide by year’s end.

We chatted with Ayuso about his payment revolution.

How will you convince people to ditch their pocketbooks?
Having an app that’s just a virtual wallet isn’t enough of an incentive for people to make the change and understand the benefits immediately–it will take a while to actually get the users used to this way of paying. In our case, we’re working with a two-way solution: We’re not only giving users exclusive geo-located coupons, we’re giving incentives to the merchants, who also need to be convinced to move to mobile payments. As a small retailer, you’re able to create your own loyalty points program embedded into Kuapay.

Security is a huge concern. How do you keep customers’ info safe?
We’re obsessed with security. That’s one of our strengths and something we’re proud of. The user is the only one who has access to their credit card information. It’s not stored in the phone, but encrypted in our system so well that not even we can see it. We’re PCI Security Standards Council compliant, and if you lose your phone you don’t have to cancel your credit cards–no one is able to access your info, since it’s protected by a PIN code.

With competition from major players like PayPal, Google and Square, how will you gain market share?
If there weren’t startups, there would never be PayPals or Googles. We’re not afraid of the big guys, because we know our product is much better than what they have to offer right now. It’s not about how big you are; it’s about how good you are. We’re confident that we’ll be able to fight against them, or even partner with them in the future, to take mobile payment to the next level.

Eventually we’re going to use NFC [near field communication], but that technology won’t be mainstream until at least 2013. We’ve created a mobile payment solution that can be implemented today with nothing more than your phone–no one else can say that.

How did you manage to secure funding?
I primarily raised seed cash from friends and family. Before pitching potential investors, I assembled an excellent team. No one’s going to invest if there’s no team–no matter what the idea is. If you have investors who are just there for their equity and their money, you’re screwed. There’s no chance you’re going to get that project going. You need investors who believe in your product. You’ve got to be flexible with your pitch. For us, the recent launch of other mobile payment options was an opportunity for us to prove to investors that our product is better.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
If you’re going to start something, it had better be really good and you’d better test it before you actually launch. Users are getting really demanding, and there’s no time anymore for launching something that isn’t tried and true.

This article was originally published in the December 2011 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Ditch Your Wallet