Sales and marketing are two things in every business that go hand in hand. However, it is primarily and ultimately the sales team that is responsible for increasing a company’s revenue through their methods and practices when working with potential customers on a day-to-day basis.
At AHMC, our sales team goes through extensive weekly training to work on negotiation skills, how to convert leads, how to build relationships with potential sponsors and keep lasting relationships with old ones… the list goes on.
While all jobs and career paths require some form of ongoing education, sales is an area of business that needs it more extensively than most. With consumer trends always changing and a fluctuating economy, sales managers and directors need to stay on top of their company representatives making sure they are as educated as they can be in all circumstances.
We recently came across an article written by a member of Ahern & Associates, LTD; a management consulting firm that specializes in transportation. Being that AHMC’s primary form of business is on some of the busiest highways across the country, we have subscribed to their blog for a different take on some of these sales and marketing perspectives that we’ve been looking into ourselves.
The main topic of the article is “How do you strengthen your sales and negotiation skills?” but the article itself is filled with a lot of really good information about the power to success and how sales is all about attitude and being prepared to build lasting relationships with customers through the humility of saying “thank you” and showing appreciation for their time and efforts.
A couple key points that really stood out to us from the article and some things to really consider when taking a different approach to our company’s sales efforts are listed below:
• Failure is never a failure.
It is only a learning experience in which negative feedback is simply there to help us change our approach or course of action when working with current or potential customers. You must change your attitude toward the word “no” so that rather than seeing it as a form of failure, you see it as an opportunity to play to win by taking a better approach that will work the next time.
• One thing you must learn to be successful, not only in sales, but also in life… is to always say “Thank You.”
By treating a customer with nothing less than 110% of your efforts, lets them know that they are important to you and your business. (Let’s face it, without customers there would be no business!) Saying thank you shows a customer that you don’t take them for granted and the day you stop doing this, is the day that your business will start losing customer loyalty, customer relationships, and ultimately… sales.
At AHMC we try very hard to show our Sponsors that we appreciate their business in as many ways possible. Without them, we would not be the company that we are today and it is important that there is always a win-win for every relationship we build with our Sponsors.
From providing “Sponsor Highlights” on our blog and Facebook, to sending out personally written Christmas and Thank You cards, we want our Sponsors to know that they are appreciated and their business means something to us.
So in conclusion I borrowed a quote from the article that I thought was quite fitting:
“Never take advantage of a relationship… because it takes years to build one and seconds to lose one.”
Thank You to all of our Sponsors! Thank You to everyone who reads our blog! And Thank You to everyone who continues to support AHMC year after year!
For more information about Ahern & Associates, LTD visit their website here.
To read the full article click here.