“Customer Satisfaction Selling” has been around for decades, but in uncertain times, its importance is greater than ever before.

The concept traces back to a lengthy and ongoing study on thousands of customers to determine what their thoughts and feelings were when people attempted to sell them or convince them to do business. The study concluded that individuals generally purchased products and services based on two main factors: credibility and rapport.

DEFINING CREDIBILITY

Credibility is often a matter of perception.

People rarely buy when they don’t fully understand the value and worth of what you are selling, and worse, they usually won’t tell you when they don’t understand. Misunderstandings often occur because the media or a trusted third party has given them incorrect information.

Remember, most people are examining the price of your project on “face value” alone. They rarely examine all the financial aspects of the proposition. However, if you able to present the added value of your project using sales enablement tools, support material and concrete data, it immediately adds credibility to your price.

ESTABLISHING RAPPORT EARLY & OFTEN

Rapport is a “state of mind” that begins with feelings. When you take the representational information that someone hands you and feed it back to them it tends to create rapport.

To build trust and establish rapport, understand that individuals like people who:

• Listen to them
• Respond to and appear to endorse their values
• Work at uncovering their needs, which they may not reveal initially

Building rapport is the same as “selling yourself” to your prospect(s), and it should happen within the first few minutes of your presentation. You further enhance rapport by establishing your credentials, conducting a comprehensive “needs assessment”, consistently listening and observing, and maintaining a high level of energy.

Remember, “Closing the sale is the natural conclusion to the satisfactory completion of each step in a proven sales methodology”.

When you focus on delivering credibility, while building rapport, during each step of your presentation, you will have a better understanding of your prospect(s) and they in turn will recognize the value that your product or service will bring in meeting their needs.