How to Change Your Mindset so that Each Sale Flows Seamlessly Into Another

You close a book when you’re done. You close a door when you leave. You close your mouth when you have nothing more to say, and close your eyes when it’s time to sleep. The word close means “to stop or obstruct, block or hinder passage, complete or settle.” Dictionary.com’s definition also includes “to stop rendering the customary services.” 

I believe the silver bullet to success in our industry – or any that requires selling to survive – is getting customers to purchase repeatedly and turning their friends and family into your clients as well. I’m not alone in this belief. In everything you read, you’ll see that “relationship” selling is the key to success. Focusing on repeat and referral business will build business faster and at a lower cost.

So why would a salesperson want to “close” the sale? I say, don’t close the sale. What seems like the end is really the beginning!

For most of us, hearing a client read off his or her credit card number creates a mental image of crossing a finish line. Collecting this information is a winning moment. Celebrating the sale is essential, and your enthusiasm should be shared with your client. But you should also see this moment as the start of a new personal relationship, and the opening of an account that could generate thousands upon thousands of dollars for many years to come!

Establishing the relationship fosters trust and confidence in each other. Most important, doing business together becomes a satisfying experience. You want a client to look forward to calling you. Likewise, you, too, should enjoy the interaction.

From a pure business perspective, a client is also an annuity. That is, only if you nurture the relationship! Former Harvard Business Review editor Ted Levitt reinforces this important notion: “The sale merely consummates the courtship.  Then the marriage begins. How good the marriage is depends on how well the relationship is managed by the seller.”

Starting today, stop thinking or saying that you’ve “closed” a sale, and don’t stop running even after you’ve crossed this finish line. Once you’ve made this adjustment, you’ll be eager to stay in the race, for there are many more finish lines ahead! You’ll soon see that the buyer wants followup, especially after giving you all that cash and responsibility. By not closing the door (or your mouth!), you are free to pursue the next three critical stages after the sale. These can ensure repeat and referral business for life!

Stage 1: In addition to saying “thank you” (by phone and mail), follow up immediately with a “peace of mind” message to soothe the clients’ nerves:

• Reassure your clients that they booked the right vacation.
• Reassure your clients that you secured them great value.
• Reassure your clients that you are taking care of all the details.

Realize that a client may be nervous about the hefty expenditure, visiting an unknown destination or maybe purchasing with you for the first time.

Just think of all the fabulous information, tips and encouragement you can keep sending to your clients! Use the phone, mail and email to deliver your followup messages. Get excited with them!

Stage 2: What can you do to make the trip extra-special? Even a simple welcome letter (sent via fax) or personal manager’s welcome makes for a nice surprise. If you choose to send a gift or order a birthday cake, for example, invest a percentage of the trip’s total cost.

Stage 3: The final stage begins the moment that the clients return home. This stage is the most feared, the most important and, ultimately, the most abandoned. And this stage continues until their next purchase! Then the sales cycle begins all over again, and your annuity keeps paying off!

This stage is the most feared because salespeople dread the possibility of hearing a complaint. It is the most important because clients need to know that our interest in them is sincere – both before we took the cash and after. It is the most abandoned because we tend to procrastinate, or assume a client will call us. Days turn to weeks, then months, rendering any subsequent followup insignificant.

In effect, we abandon them. And they abandon us. Sale closed! As so eloquently stated by Jay Conrad Levinson, the father or Guerilla Marketing, “Most businesses in general lose customers due to apathy after the sale.  We lose customers by ignoring them to death.”

Don’t “close” the sale, and you’ll see how many new opportunities open!