Cultivating Your Sales Approach

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Virginia Jimenez, One of Thousands of Entrepreneurship Coaches on Noomii.

Imagine it’s the start of a new crop season. You are a farmer trying to cultivate the best produce your contacts have ever seen. You tend the soil, add nutrients, drop the seeds, and you make sure the land stays hydrated and healthy to get the greatest results. If you are in the business of serving others you are somewhat like a farmer. Going out into the world and planting many seeds. You are dropping knowledge, offering your products or services to either reduce a pain or add pleasure to someone else’s life and to at some point close a sale. Your soil is comprised of the network of people in your life and the quality of your exchange with them. Your harvest will be a result of the relationships you are able to achieve. Sure you may possibly close a sale or woo others over without building one, but when you are able to continue a connection you win in more ways than one.

I recently sent a friendly ‘Hello’ email after accepting a new connection. I stated an interest in networking. I received a response back that was impersonal and seemed like a scripted sales email. Immediately I felt this person didn’t take the time to see my initial email expressing interest in connecting, and if they did see it they didn’t seem to care. I was just a new notch in their connection count on LinkedIn.

I get it. Sometimes cold emails need to be sent out, but I know you can make the approach more personal. After all connecting for business is not just for closing sales. It’s for building relationships. It’s for finding a win-win where you add value to someone and that someone adds value to you $$.

Here are some things to consider when you are building a relationship online:

**Check out their website to find a common area of interest

**Check out their latest post to see how you can contribute

**Find out what they need

**When sending direct messages/emails be sure to use their first name to address then, and don’t sound scripted. In fact, if you do use a script adjust it for each person. It takes time, but quality over quantity wins!!!

**Remember that at minimum 60% of communication is non-verbal. Read what you write out loud, and imagine how the receiver will read it.

Building a relationship is key for several reasons like having an ongoing exchange and potential for future referrals. It can also be a lot easier, efficient and less costly to attain revenue from existing clients or people you stay in touch with than people you just meet. Not only can it be good on your bottom-line in the long-term, but you build friendships that surpass your expectations. Imagine that!

“To build a long-term, successful enterprise, when you don’t close a sale, open a relationship.”
-Patricia Fripp

This post originally appeared on my LinkedIn page and can also be found in my blog @ www.virginiainspires.com/new-blog