If you’ve been using our negotiating tips, then it’s entirely likely a sale is on the horizon – so it’s important to be able to recognize it. As a salesperson, it’s important to stay tuned into the customer and what he or she may be feeling, thinking, or doing. It easy to get too caught up in delivering the perfect sales pitch or projecting energy and forget that sales is a two-way communication. It involves give and take; the exchange of information to and from both parties. Customers are constantly sending signals about what they want, what they need, and what they are thinking. And, if you just learn to pay attention, and know what buying signs to look for, these messages, both verbal and non-verbal, can make your job as sales person a whole lot easier.

Buying signals are indications the customer gives that he or she may be nearing a decision about your product or service and may be interested in making a purchase. These ready-to-buy cues, can be easy to miss if you’re too focused on what you need to say or do next. Learn some of the most common buying signs, so the next time a customer is ready to buy, you won’t miss out on the sale.

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Here are 10 buying signs not to overlook:

1. Asking Lots of Questions: Never get irritated if a customer grills you with questions. If a customer asks for more information about the product, the warranty, the price, the terms and conditions, what the service includes, how delivery works, or almost anything else, they are interested. Questions are a clear buying sign, because think about it, if you were not interested in a product, what would you do? You’d probably just walk away, right? Exactly. Customers don’t ask questions just to be polite, or to annoy you. They are asking questions because they need more information to decide about your product. Once you know that, all you have to do is give them all the exciting information about your product or service that you know will make them feel great about making a purchase.
2. Focusing on One Particular Product Type: If a customer keeps hovering around a particular version of the product or keeps coming back to a particular service package, they are telling you that’s the one they would like to buy. Don’t overlook this important buying sign, and instead of spending your time trying to sell them on other versions of the product, seize the opportunity to close the deal.
3. Looking Around for Help:Customers don’t usually like being bothered while they are shopping, so a customer who is looking around for someone to help her is usually interested in buying something. This body language should be an immediate signal to you to engage with this customer.
4. Asking Another Person’s Opinion: When customers reach out to others for their opinion, they are interested in making a purchase. They may simply need reassurance that the product or service they’ve chose is the right one for them. As the sales rep, you can help build their confidence to close the deal.
5. Fiddling with their Wallet: Customers may not realize they’re doing it, but when someone is ready to buy, they may handle their wallet or touch their money. Make sure to stay cued in to this subtle, but important buying sign.
6. Handling the Product or Sales Material: When customers touch or hold the product, they are unconsciously picturing themselves owning it. This may also be true of customers who spend a lot of time holding, touching, or staring at the brochure or sales sheet. When customers are hands on, make sure you’re paying attention and are ready to help them make the purchase.
7. Nodding and Eye Contact: Customers who keep their eyes locked on you are showing that they’re comfortable with you and interested in what you’re telling them. Nodding their head shows agreement with what you’re saying. Customers who show both of these non-verbal, buying signals are demonstrating their interest in your product.
8. Parroting: If a customer repeats back anything you’ve said in your sales pitch, especially if it’s the product benefit statement, it shows they are paying attention to what you’ve been saying and they are interested in that aspect of the product or service. So, if they say, “So I can save $20 a month if I choose this package?” make sure to give them the details they’re looking for. That customer is ready to buy.
9. Making “If I had” Statements: When a customer asks rhetorical questions like, “So if I had this tablet, I could stream my show anywhere?” they have already imagined themselves owning the product. These kinds of statements are clear buying signs.
10. Showing Excitement: When customers make exclamations like “Wow!” “Really?” and “Nice!” they are not just being polite. Most customers won’t bother. They are showing genuine interest in your product or service and that is a buying sign that should not be ignored.

Listening and paying attention is just as important as saying the right things when trying to make a sale. Customers communicate a lot about how they’re feeling about the product for sales people who are willing and able to pick up their signals. Overlooking these, sometimes subtle, buying signs could mean missing out on sales and doing more work than necessary. Becoming an expert on customer behavior and learning the classic buying signals can make selling a whole lot easier by giving you valuable information about the kind of customer you’re dealing with.

In business, as in life, building relationships is key. No matter how talented you are or what service you provide, if your customers don’t like you or, worse, don’t trust you, you’re not going to get very far. Networking is a critical part of advancing your career, but making contacts will only serve you if you can foster them into fruitful business relationships.

DOs

1. Be Prepared

Whenever you’re meeting with a client or a connection, especially a new one, make time in advance to learn a bit about them. Whether this means speaking to mutual acquaintances or researching online, doing your homework on a prospective customer or contact will allow you to identify common ground and better equip you to answer their questions or provide what they’re looking for. If you want them to give you their business, it’s crucial to come prepared. Coming to meetings well versed on the other party’s needs also assures them you will go the extra mile on their behalf.

2. Demonstrate Your Value

Business relationships are investments. We invest time and energy into them with the expectation that they will provide value. Just as you’re hoping to leverage your business relationships to achieve certain goals, so are your colleagues, business partners, and customers.  So, consider what value you’re providing back to them.  In some cases, it may be helpful to illustrate what you have brought to the relationship by presenting hard numbers and proof of results. By making a strong case for the overwhelming benefits of the relationship, you stack your deck for success, and ensure the business relationship with grow and flourish in the future.

3. Be Honest

There’s a reason why your parents always said, “Honesty is the best policy.” It is. If you promise your client the sun, moon and stars when networking, then that’s exactly what they’re going to expect. It’s important to set ambitious goals, but it’s just as important to deliver. If you can’t come through, be proactive about letting your client know. Otherwise, any frustration they feel will be compounded by your having mislead them and your business relationship may suffer as a result. To avoid this scenario, set reasonable goals and manage expectations with customers, bosses, and colleagues. Promise only what you are absolutely certain you can deliver. It’s always better to surprise someone by providing more than expected rather than over-promising and under-delivering.

4. Practice Active Listening

Ultimately, you’re here to serve your customers. If they feel your own agenda is taking priority over theirs, your business relationship will not last very long. You can only meet someone else’s needs if you listen to what those needs are, so always be as ready to hear as you are to speak. Listen to Cydcor President, Vera Quinn on the subject of really hearing your client:

Don’ts

1. Be Too Eager

You likely learned about playing “hard to get” in high school. In many ways, the same rules apply when building business relationships. If you appear too interested – contacting them incessantly, coming across as desperate for their business – they may start to suspect that you’re not that hot a commodity. You should seem interested in securing their business and maintaining a fruitful partnership, but make it clear that you have other irons in the fire and will be fine should things not work out. As we said earlier, if you’re clearly demonstrating the value you’ll bring to the relationship, they’ll be interested.

2. Project Arrogance

It can be a fine line between projecting confidence and arrogance, but it’s one you’ll have to navigate if you hope to form long-lasting and fruitful business relationships. A client or contact will be impressed by your knowledge and expertise but annoyed if it crosses over into condescension. You demonstrate your value to this business relationship best by doing your job well, not by being your own hype-man. An easy way to avoid sounding arrogant is to continuously show the other party that their thoughts and opinions matter. Remember that all business relationships are partnerships of some kind, meaning that both parties rightly feel that they matter and their ideas have value.

3. Fall Out of Touch

Often we make ourselves most available when we want something, and less so when we don’t. After you complete whatever business you’ve conducted with a client or contact, it can be easy to fall out of touch. Don’t fall into this trap. Make an effort to stay engaged and to continue networking, even when there’s nothing clearly “in it for you.” Business relationships, like fires, require constant kindling, or they can fizzle out. By checking in with clients and contacts on a regular basis, you demonstrate your long-term investment in the relationship and dedication to your customers.

Ultimately, maintaining a real, lasting business relationship is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time, it takes work, and it takes commitment. By constantly providing value to your client or contact, consistently delivering what you promise, and by taking the time to nurture the relationship, you can build relationships that will continue to pay off for years to come.

For anyone working in a sales environment, your relationship with your customers dictates your success. You can turn a one-time deal into lifelong business by how you acknowledge, understand and treat your customers’ needs. At Cydcor, we put an emphasis on this aspect of the job from the start.

Begin by asking questions. Ask them who they are, what they want and what they expect from your business. Conduct surveys, hold events and meet-and-greets, set up customer profiles to help individualize your sales pitch. Let go of your assumptions and figure out what each individual client wants.

We know that customer loyalty is at an all-time low, especially among younger clients who use social media reviews and recommendations as a means of doing business. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are great ways to interact with customers and ask them the questions that will give you a better understanding of what makes them tick. Through social media you can:

• Start a dialogue with clients about your product and their expectations
• Learn about your customers’ interests and buying history
• Give your customers a platform for reviews and comments
• Be active in the community and make a trusted name for yourself

Adding a personal touch to your professional relationship is also key. Gallup’s Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman found four levels of customer expectation that will help build trust between you and your clients:

• Accuracy - Learn exactly what your customer wants and when they want it, and then make sure they get it. If you can’t follow through with this most basic step, you are very likely to lose your customer and even your business.
• Availability - You need to be there for your customer, especially after you’ve taken their money. If there is an issue to fix or a product to be returned, they want to know you will be available to address their concerns.
• Partnership - This goes hand-in-hand with availability, and it’s the level where you really build trust. Are you attuned to your clients’ needs? Are you connecting to each client on an individual basis? Do they feel like you actually care?
• Advice - A study by the MIT Sloan School of Management showed that customers are most loyal to companies who teach them something. Educate your customer about the product you are selling and they are more likely to buy from you again.

It’s easy to get caught up in numbers. But the backbone of your business is the loyal, happy customer, and open lines of communication will work in keeping them coming back for more.

Getting in the mind of your customer isn’t the easiest concept to grasp, but it’s valuable in the long run. Have you found any good strategies to understand your customers better? Share with us on Cydcor’s Twitter and follow us @Cydcor.

We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.

It’s time to spring forward! Use these ten terrific tips to energize your attitude and get the most out of your workday.

1. Consider Your Customers

Your customers’ wants and needs are what matters most. Figure out what they expect and then exceed those expectations. Take the time to become extraordinary.

2. Start with a Smile

Smiles often change attitudes—your own and your coworkers’. People usually like to be around people with a happy demeanor. Think about the times when you were having a rough day and seeing some else’s smile encouraged you to smile. It may be a simple thing to do but making an effort to smile will make an impact on the rest of your day.  Smiles work from the outside in, so practice smiling often. You’ll improve your outlook and strengthen customer and co-worker connections.

3. Schedule Some Fun

It is important to look for ways to keep you in a positive state of mind. Perhaps have lunch with a friend, join the fun and be part of the office team night,  and listen to upbeat music on your way to and from work. You’ll bring back authentic energy to your workplace.

4. Save Your Gratitude

Record your accomplishments in a notebook or in your smartphone. When you need a boost, you have a resource that will transform a challenging day to a great day.

5. Attack Your Hardest Task First

Putting off a difficult job never turns out well. Procrastination sows, and that can ruin your day. Attack your hardest task first; once it’s out of the way, you’ll feel accomplished and ready to meet anything else that comes your way.

6. Help Someone

Reach out to your team to see if they need help with their tasks. Doing something for others is a great way to get out of your head and gain a positive perspective.

7. Become an Optimist

Consciously remind yourself to see the positive side of every situation that you’re in. You can learn from every experience at work, and that’s an exciting possibility. Looking at things from a positive perspective will also help you be more solutions-minded and a proactive teammate.

8. Do More Than What’s Expected

Think like an Olympic athlete when you are working—don’t let anything stop you from living up to your full potential! Master your tasks and core assignments first, then tap into your entrepreneurial spirit to find opportunities to do more and exceed expectations.

9. Get to Work Early

Show up twenty minutes early. Get a head start on your day by avoiding last minute traffic that can make you late for work. Getting to work early will also give you some time to think on the tasks you need to accomplish for the day. Perhaps you can use the time to read a section of a motivational book or reflect on your goals. Not only will your day start off better, but you’ll also get noticed for taking the initiative.

10. Talk to Your Boss

Let your boss know what you’re doing. Share your career plans. Asking for advice is a great way to let your boss know that you’re committed to the company.

What are some tactics you use to stay positive at work? Share your tips with us on Twitter @Cydcor or Facebook, and show this article with your friends to start a conversation with your community.

We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.

Getting close to your customers is one of the most important business strategies you can master. Learn how to change your mindset to keep the customers you have—and get new ones!

As a sales professional, you live, die, and breathe for customers. Simply stating that customers are vital to your success would be a massive understatement—customers are everything!

Instilling a customer-focused mindset into your employees and salespeople will keep their eyes on the ball and lead to some seriously good results for your business. In fact, according to a study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity and the American Management Association, companies that don’t foster an environment and culture of pleasing customers fail to succeed.

The study found that the best organizations -understand and leverage customer-focused initiatives that require a blend of attraction, engagement, satisfaction, collaboration, and retention.

Have we convinced you to make a change within your own business? If so, here are a few ways to start manufacturing a customer-centric cultural shift in your business:

Find A Good Place To Start

Begin by benchmarking your current level of customer focus. By completing an audit of your ongoing efforts, you can actually determine where to begin and how your team could improve.

Know Your Audience

Naturally, you’ll need to know who your customers actually are if you want to serve them properly. Try customizing your approach for your customers at every opportunity. Learn from the past and the present to see what they like and dislike about your current strategy so that you can refine your efforts in the future!

Consistency Is Key

Creating a consistent standard that your customers can anticipate is crucial. Standardizing training and protocols for your customer-facing employees is essential for maintaining a consistent brand image.

Think Of The Big Picture

Help your employees see the actual impact that their work has on customers. Forging this relationship is incredibly important to getting your employees invested in the customers that they serve. Employees that can see the fruits of their labor tend to be more productive as well!

Communication Matters Most

Maintaining open communication with your customers at all times is another essential. There’s a reason large companies have 24/7 customer support—it pays always to be there when your customers need you. While it may not be possible for all businesses to have a dedicated 24/7 customer support team, do the best that you can with the resources available to you. Your customers will be able to tell that you’re working hard for them.

Hire Help

Are you having trouble making the shift happen? If all else fails, try making your next hire someone that already has a customer-focused mindset. This will help you fill your ranks with right-minded individuals!

For further reading about creating a customer-focused environment in your business, check out this insightful article from Forbes.

Constructive communication with your customers will help you close a sale today and let you know who to call tomorrow. What are your secrets for staying connected with your customers? Share the skills you’ve developed with us. Post your story on Twitter, follow us @Cydcor, and start a conversation with your network.

We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada, to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.

Cydcor is dedicated to helping business professionals take the next step in their careers. For additional blogs regarding business, leadership, and sales advice, head over to https://www.cydcor.com/media.

Sales professionals have a natural impulse to focus attention on developing new customer relationships in order to land new accounts. It’s a good impulse, but it’s one that you need to manage in order to maintain existing customer relationships.

At Cydcor, we’re interested in pursuing new opportunities, but we also understand that you can’t forget current customers in the pursuit of new possibilities. Customer relationships aren’t over once you close the sale. It’s the start of a long-term partnership that will benefit your company and your customer.

Here are some strategies for building—and maintaining—great customer relationships.

Remember Their Names

Whether you’re working with a small company or a large corporation you’ll be working with an individual—a person. He or she has a family, a birthday, a new child, or a feisty puppy. Get to know your customer. Include a few notes in your contact management system to help you remember personal details that distinguish them. Personal knowledge provides a way to start a sales conversation. Reach out on your customers’ special days and they’ll remember that you made an extra effort when they have to make purchasing decision.

Become a Solution Center

Offer your customers the resources they need to stay informed about changes, improvements, and up-dates in the service you provide. If your company offers a newsletter make sure that your customer knows about it. When you find articles, books, or webinars that might be useful to your customer remember to share them. Call out the information that will be valuable to them and their particular problems. They’ll appreciate that you personalized the information for them.

Monitor Customer Relationships with Social Media

Research by Zendesk says that 45% of customers shared bad customer experiences and only 30% shared good customer experiences on social media. This information is an important tool for building customer relationships. Follow your customers’ social media accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Listen to what they’re saying and you’ll be able to fix any issues if they happen.

Customers Are Team Members

Include your customers in events that matter to them, to your company, and his or her company. If your department is hosting a networking event or is launching a new service make certain that your customer hears about it. When you’re working on improving your team’s internal processes get your customers’ feedback. Show them that you value their business and their professional expertise.

Keep up with the latest updates from Cydcor by following us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cydcor

“On average, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase.”
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- White House Office of Consumer Affairs

In 2011, American Express conducted a survey of their customers, which revealed that 3 out of 5 customers are willing to walk away from their favorite brand if they received poor customer service. Many entrepreneurs and businesspeople struggle with various aspects of customer service, but it’s clear that customer service can certainly make or break a business. In addition to the American Express survey, another research report showed that 90% of Americans are willing to spend more if it means excellent service.

Fantastic customer service can help a business rise in the ranks, and the loyalty of a client base that appreciates you and what you have to offer is paramount. Loyal customers are familiar with you and your brand, and therefore are much more likely to check out new products or recommendations you make.

“Brand ambassadors” are popular, especially on social media, where Tweets, photo posts and hashtags make it easy for customers to share a great experience—or a bad one. Keeping your customers happy, with quick responses to their questions or concerns, gives them a positive experience they wish to share. If they love your service or product, they will speak up and share, and word-of-mouth marketing is an extremely powerful channel.

Having brand ambassadors can assist you in creating new customers, as they are taking a recommendation of a friend or family member who mentions your services. This is a much lower cost to acquire, as most business need to advertise and market, offering free product samples or discounts in order to attract new customers. By providing great customer service, you create an experience others will want to share. And as a reward, they will sell others on your business.