Allow Your Customer to Buy

One of the members of the MHEDA group on LinkedIn, Barry Lauterwasser puts it this way;
"Forklifts & forklift services are not sold, they're purchased. If you are not near the top of the mind when the time comes for a purchase, well....the prospect just isn't going to call."

I absolutely agree and would broaden the product mentioned to any material handling product.

The next step in our action plan is to touch the customer. Touch the customer regularly. But we must take care how we touch or it can work against us. There are many studies about how many times a day that we are assaulted by TV ads, billboards, taxi-backs, direct mail and now "tweets"...all attempting to be "sticky" (something we remember). But the only messages that get thru are the ones that resonate with us for some reason. I start my morning with an email bringing me the daily Calvin & Hobbs cartoon. It makes me smile and gives the right start to my day. Now there are 13 other emails that are in the inbox, most are deleted. I read the ones from my grandchildren, airplane manufacturers and photography sites....because that is what I value.

I have always taught salespeople to touch their customers. Touch = personal visit, telephone call, written letter or postcard, email or any other one-on-one action initiated by them. But the addendum to that training is to make the touch in the area of interest for the customer. I am not talking about sending a birthday card...but you could. Remember, our customers job is important to them. Anything that we know that will help them or their company is of interest to them.

Our job is to make what we know fit what they need.

Good selling,