Adrian Miller

Indifference is a fantastic personal characteristic to have if you’re the roguish leading man in a sweeping Civil War tale, but it’s not quite as charming if you’re a career salesperson trying your best to generate business in a slow economy. The funny thing is that many of us have adopted a Rhett Butler style of prospecting that is highly ineffective - particularly in these challenging times.

If you are not focusing your energies on asking your prospects questions, you might as well be telling them that you don’t give a damn! It’s certainly easy to get into the mindset that all you need to do is sell, sell, sell. This can lead to you prematurely rattling off features and benefits before you even know your prospect’s particular situation.

The sales process begins with a dialog, not a lecture and continues with your ability to be a good listener. Here are just a few other reminders on how to connect with those you’re selling to and actually give a damn.

Be...

Have you ever considered the fitness level of your customer service department? No, I’m not talking about an employee exercise program. Rather, I’m asking if your team that provides service to your clients is functioning at peak performance.

If you haven’t given this much thought, you might not be seeing the big picture issues that could be hurting your business. Just like with personal fitness, there are many components to managing the well-being of a customer service department. It’s not about excelling in one particular skill. It’s about defining all of the components necessary for providing quality customer service and establishing the strategies to achieve specific results.

In order to reach an optimal level of customer service fitness, there are certain questions that you need to ask. The answers will give you a clear cut overview of where you are succeeding and where improvements need to be made. Here’s what you should be asking:

How Do They Sound?...

Do your clients consider you easy? No, not the type of “easy” that wasn’t such a good thing to be in high school, I’m asking if you are easy to work with. The key components to having a good long-term relationship with those you sell to are being someone who is flexible, responsive, and available. Let’s take a closer look at the concept of being easy.

Flexibility
Do you take a one size fits all approach with clients or do you design your product offerings and services to benefit their specific needs? Flexibility is a must if you have competition. When you are rigid with what you offer, you are giving your competition an edge, and they will most certainly accommodate your clients’ needs. Don’t give your competition the opportunity. Keep in mind that flexibility doesn’t just stop with what you are offering; it also applies to how you conduct business. Find out what your clients’ preferred method of communication is and use it. While you may like email, Joe Customer might...

No, that's not an error. I didn't mean to ask you "why" you are in business. My question isn't about your goals, your aims, your vision, your mission, your business plan, your targets, or any of the other stuff that come together and answer the "why you are in business" question.

I'm here to ask you, specifically and simply: HOW are you in business?

What are you like? Are you pleasant? Are you responsive? Are you fair? Do you demonstrate in HOW you are in business, that you care about helping people with whatever solution you provide? Do you give your customers a reason to be glad that they do business with you? Would YOU buy from you?

Here's the thing: business culture today is so focused on the target/goal/objective, that the means of achieving those ends -- the HOW of business -- is often an afterthought. In fact, sometimes, the HOW is not thought of at all, and so becomes utterly subjugated, sacrificed and snuffed out in relentless -- arguably...