“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.” 

Steve Jobs

This quote stresses the importance of deeply understanding your customers' needs and desires. 

This proactive approach leads to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and a competitive edge in the market.

The underlying message and the theme throughout our time together is about the value of deep customer insights and visionary thinking in creating successful and lasting customer relationships.

I'm throwing down the gauntlet when I say that I’m massively concerned with many in sales today. I’m not here to show disrespect nor point any fingers. What I'm going to share with you comes from conversations, messages and even observations within the teams I work with.

Where's the spark? Where's the drive? Where's the passion? The same drive you had when you first started your career. Many of you must and I mean must step away from babysitting a portfolio of business as you walk around like your backside doesn't stink.

Yes, my sales friends, babysitting. It hurts but let the truth be told. 

What would happen if you lost one of your current accounts?

What have you done lately for your clients to help them grow their business?

Are you temporarily taking care of them until someone else comes along who pays better attention to them?

YOU MUST GET TO THE HEART OF WHAT MATTERS

To get you thinking, please reflect upon the following questions:

• Do you really understand what your clients want from you? 

• Do you understand what they really desire from you? 

• Are you delivering what they really want? 

How many of you can honestly answer these questions?

Gut check time, isn't it?

I would like for you to think about your best client's (however you want to define them), got it? 

Now, think about how much they mean to you and your company, and what would it mean to you and your company if they went elsewhere?

 If I had a dollar for every time I've heard, “We service the heck out of our customers. They’ll never leave us.” "I own this account." "They love me, they're not going anywhere." 

And then all of a sudden, a cold dose of reality sets in, a competitor walks away with one of these accounts and no one ever saw it coming.

I'm not here to throw ill-will on you nor your company. I'm asking you to think. I know you work hard for your clients. You take them seriously. You provide great service and yet some still leave, why?

Time to get real for a moment... Your competitors, they're calling on your clients. They're ripe for the picking if you simply fail to take care of them, listen to them, love them, learn from them and even grow with them.

Allow me to paint this picture with a broad brush... these so-called accounts that you so-call own start developing a long list of 'little things' and you all know what I mean, as things begin to fester over time and before you know it, you’ve been replaced with a shiny new sales professional.

If you fail to continually enhance the client experience, don't be surprised if they look elsewhere for new experiences.

Stop babysitting and start engaging.

START ENGAGING WITH YOUR CLIENTS

Equally important as bringing in new clients, it's mission critical to keep your current clients happy with you and your company. However, keeping them happy depends on knowing what they want, what they crave and what they care about.

A sales professional consistently looks for potential roadblocks and landmines within their accounts. With discipline and determination, they crave feedback from their clients. They leverage feedback to identify key areas for improvement.

Forget the Wheaties, oatmeal, or the All-American Grand Slam, Selling from the Heart Champions eat feedback for breakfast.

CRAVE FEEDBACK FROM YOUR CLIENTS

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”

Bill Gates

The consummate sales professional, they run their own business. They're a solo entrepreneur. They do their best to appease their clients, satisfy their needs and keep them loyal to their brand.

If you struggle to continually unpack what your clients actually think about you and your service, you'll never be able to give them the very best experience they deserve. It's their opinions about the experience they have with you that’s helpful information to use to adjust your support to fit their needs more accurately.

How do you know if what you're doing is working? How do you know if your clients are happy with their experiences or with your company? What do they like and dislike? How well are you keeping up with what's going on inside their company?

Sales Professionals dig in and ask...

• What can I do differently?

• What can I do to improve or enhance my service to you?

• What can I do to help you do better business?

I'm asking you to rock the boat on this one because a comfortable mindset with your clients is a terrible thing to waste. Think of the all the competitors circling your clients just waiting for the right moment to reel them into their establishments of paradise.

Without direct and honest feedback, you can’t know if your clients are happy or if what you're doing is helping them to do better business in an ever-changing marketplace. 

All of this is like trying to buy someone a gift with no idea of their taste.

CARE ABOUT YOUR CLIENTS

Sales is serving and serving is sales. To serve is to care. It's caring deeply about your clients, the people who buy what you have to sell. Listen up... here's a secret, I encourage you to capture the hearts and minds of your clients.

Here at Selling from the Heart, we call this giving a rip.

It's truly caring about helping to solve their business challenges, goals and concerns.

Showing that you care, it's not about being mushy and gushy, or pixie sticks and rose petals, it's about being human, being real and being your authentic self, every step of the way.

"People don’t care what you know until they know that you care."

Theodore Roosevelt

Your clients are asking so much more of you than they ever have before. I bet they're holding you to a higher degree of accountability. If you fail to nourish and continually bring value, I flat out guarantee somebody else will eagerly step right in.

Deeply invest, simply care and give a rip about the experiences you provide to you clients. 

Watch what happens to your relationships.

CONNECT WITH MEANING TO YOUR CLIENTS

“Carve your name on hearts and not on marble.”

Charles Spurgeon

This is a poignant reminder to prioritize the impact you can have on others over the pursuit of material or superficial achievements. 

This quote stresses the importance of creating lasting, meaningful connections and leaving a legacy of kindness and love, rather than seeking recognition through monuments or accolades. 

Question that I must ask... How many of you are truly connecting with your clients? 

You must make your clients feel special and that you give a rip about them. In other words, stop looking at them through your dollar signed glasses.

We as human beings want to be heard, we want to know that we matter, and we just want to be loved (or even just liked). The same can be said for your clients.

You can no longer leave your heart at the doorstep of your house.

Heartfelt conversations and engagement lead to a human connection. You must be present and be in the moment with your clients. You must make them feel like they're the only thing that matters. 

Speak from your heart. So many can tell when you’re being sincere or not. They can also tell really fast when you're acting like an empty suit. 

When you start communicating with authenticity, you'll find that the trust and relatability factors soar.

Connect with meaning by digging in and asking heartfelt questions.

• What do you truly expect and desire from me?

• What do you value?

• What matters to you the most?

• What can I do to better serve you?

A meaningful connection is a two-way street. Both parties are getting something from the relationship. The meaning is key. The ability to share vulnerability, common interests, values, and interests are examples of meaning.

Are you creating this environment for your clients?

INVEST AND THEN COLLECT

Integrating feedback, caring and connectivity is jet fuel for building meaningful client relationships with your clients.

This has direct bearing on your sales revenue and profitability.

If you hunger to achieve true sales excellence, it can't just be about you. It must be bigger than you. You must be driven by a personal mission to make your clients business world better.

• You must intensely care.

• You must have compassion.

• You must connect with meaning.

I get it and let's stop the excuses. I'm here to inform all of you that you can do better. It's up to you and you only. 

Your success in sales is not just about closing more deals, where you sit on the sales totem pole, or the size of your last commission check; it's about how well you use feedback, how much you care and how well you connect with your clients. 

Watch what happens to your relationships and watch what happens to their loyalty.

To all my fellow sales professionals and leaders… Meaningful and credible relationships do matter! 

This creates long term sales sustainability. 

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.