Marketing and sales are a matching process – matching people’s and organisations’ needs and wants, with products and services.
We need to build relationships in order to buy – whether it’s with a brand, a company or a product. We need some familiarity, understanding and trust – we need to know
- What the product or service is,
- What it will do for us
- Whether it’s the right choice
So when you first contact another company what you are doing is finding out whether there is a need for your services, and also whether the company fits your criteria for being a good customer.
If your fit with them is not good, or if they don’t meet your customer criteria – you move on. That’s simply feedback leading to an informed action.
If you can establish a fit, then you start to build a relationship.
What you are doing in that first contact is conducting research. You’re finding out what someone else’s needs are, then and only then, do you start to match their needs with what you can provide, if you’ve established there is a fit. And you are more likely to be able to engineer and present a good fit if you once you know what their needs are.
Selling first, then trying to build a relationship rarely works. It makes the other person defensive, it puts them at a disadvantage. How can you develop real understanding of other people’s needs when you’re intent on putting your own first? It’s much more powerful to be able to understand their needs first, and then match them with what you can provide.
Think about good relationships you have with friends and successful romantic relationships – the same rules apply. Successful relationships are built on reciprocity, on trust and respect, closeness and understanding. That doesn’t all happen on the first date!
Only 3% of sales happen on the first contact – and for many products and services it will be 0%. 80% of sales only happen at the fifth or subsequent contact. So where there’s a good mutual fit, you can move on from research to building solid relationships. Just like real life…