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Editor's Take

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In human courtship, when a man has succeeded in winning a woman’s heart, the couple takes the newly-found relationship to a new level and hopes it blossoms into something lasting and beautiful. Similarly, in the realm of business, after wooing the market and generating sales, companies should be able to build the relationship and convert customers into loyal patrons. 

Cultivating relationships is a fundamental sales strategy. Successful insurance agents are most familiar with this approach of maintaining communication with a policy holder even after closing the plan. 

Making the sale is only half of the relationship. Having made it to first base, marketers must act to preserve the SME’s relationship with clients, without whom the business will not grow. Here are three points you need to observe: 

Observe Proper Ethics – Are you sincere and honest when you offer your company's products and services? Do you work hard to become an expert in your client’s area of business? Do you understand the fears, worries and problems of your customers? Do you take a genuine interest in their needs? Can you show how your company fits into your customer’s business plan? 

Be Consistent – Does your company image square with its image in the customer’s head? Is your branding consistent in both internal and external communications? Does your branding create a sense of trust and allow you to be the preferred brand or provider to your customers? 

Be Persistent – marketing involves this. Relationships built on coercion, like shotgun marriages, are unhappy ones. You are indeed a lucky seller if you get a prospect to say YES after one or two sales calls. Every experienced fisherman knows fish won’t take your bait in one cast. You have to tease the fish into the open and tantalize them into taking a bite. If your strategy consists of just the making a sale then ignoring the relationship with the client, chances are you won’t last very long in this business. 

Given these points, I am sure your relationship will flourish alongside your profits.

PS: Photo taken from  www.healthandwelfare.idaho.gov

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