Most B2B businesses and individuals these days have neither the time nor the money to let a salesperson try and talk them into buying something. In the current financial climate, a person or business really has to want or need something in order to part with their cash. As a salesperson, it is your job to convince the B2B business or individual that they really do want or need the product or services that you are selling.
However, before you go steaming in all guns blazing, you need to remember that simply reeling off facts and figures or talking at the customer is not the way to do this. Bland, robotic B2B sales techniques do little other than to irritate the person or B2B business that you are trying to sell to. The key to gaining both the interest and the trust of your prospect is to build a rapport, which in turn will enable you to get your point across to them in a far more effective way.
The key to building a rapport with your B2B prospect
Building a rapport with your B2B customer is something that you need to do from the very off, which means that you need to think about everything from the way you greet the customer or company representative you are meeting to the things that you will say.
Plan in advance: In order to boost your chances of building a good rapport with your B2B prospect, you need to start thinking about what you will say well before you meet up with them rather than just relying on spontaneity.
Make your greeting count: The way in which you greet your B2B customer will not only affect the immediate reaction you receive but could also affect your future relationship and success with that customer. This is because your greeting could be something that your customer remembers and associates with you and your company for a long time to come. Your handshake should be accompanied by a vibrant yet natural greeting that does not involve saying anything about what you are trying to sell. Be friendly, casual, polite, and treat your customer like a friend.
Conversation: While you may have been used to using sales patter in the past, customers are far more likely to want to listen to someone who is making conversation with them than to someone who is simply talking at them. Therefore, make sure you use a conversational tone but make sure the things that you say will ultimately give you the opportunity to introduce or talk about your B2B goods and B2B services. This method will enable you to gently work your sales pitch into the conversation rather than going in there with the sole purpose of selling and coming across as not really caring about anything else.
Use your memory: Building a rapport is something that should benefit you in the long term not just on an immediate basis. Therefore, try and remember things that your potential customer tells you about themselves, such as things about their interests and hobbies, even if they are nothing to do with what you are selling. As a result of you making conversation with them rather than steaming straight in with a sales pitch, your customer is more likely to open up about things such as their plans, hobbies, and other personal information. If you remember this information and bring some of it up in future conversations, you stand to really impress your customer, as this will show them that you took an interest in what they were saying to you previously.
Building a rapport with customers is something that has become increasingly important in the world of sales. Customers are far more likely to buy goods and B2B services from someone they feel that they can talk to and trust than from someone whose sole aim seems to be to come in, secure the sale, and then run.
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Post by: Patrick Murphy
Great post. I think preparation is the key as with out knowledge of the subject you are talking about its very difficult to show confidence which is a key part of building rapport.