1. Sales chasing you instead of you chasing sales
Because you focus on continuous effort of adding value and creating market demand via marketing, you don’t need to wait for the last week of the month to chase for sales target and plead for help from the buyer.
Instead, you can expect the sales orders to come pouring into your ordering department at the beginning of the month, as you continue to build the brand and creating the needs for your products.
Hence, if you do your marketing well, the sales will chase you instead of you chasing for the sales which is a tradition most of the sales people do towards the month’s end or quarterly closing.
2. Boss! When would be our next price ‘adjustment’?
With appropriate marketing activities and brand building effort, you will find that your pricing remain intact despite competitors pricing pressure. Your customers will value your total package solution that you offer to them more than those sales people who will try to ‘push’ or ‘sell’ them cheaper products.
At times, when your company made the decision for price ‘adjustment’ (increase!), you will find that your clients are far more willing to stock up your products before the new pricing takes effect; this will certainly help you to achieve your sales target faster and earlier.
In fact, those sales representatives that capitalize on marketing activities always look forward to the next price ‘adjustment’ as the way to stock their customers up, block competitors from securing their orders by constrain ting their clients storage space and credit limit.
Hence, Marketing orientated Sales Representatives always look forward to the next price ‘adjustment’!
3. For a Marketer: Selling is a walk in the park!
Indeed selling is a walk in the park for a Marketer, simply because you choose your target audience.
What you need to do is to find the right target audience and offer them with the right solutions at the right time and place.
Do it right and do it consistently, you will have a client that not only is your loyal customer; they would possibly be your advocate and be your source of referrals.
Most of the time, you would hardly need to ‘hard’ sell or subject yourself for last minute sales target chasing and compete with your competitors for time, space and credit limit.
You can visit your clients at any time as you pleased and not confined to specific period of time and you will have quality time with your clients to discuss issues beyond price and products, issues that of interest to both of you and build genuine rapport and long term relationship.
4. You are your clients’ business partner not their slave!
Customers need not to be the king because they need us as their business partner. With the marketing resources available, we could offer them solutions to help them to sustain and growth their business, hence, we are their equal partner and our client needs us as much as we need them.
We are business partners and we support each other in this dog eat dog world, won’t that be better than being a slave to our clients? Does a slave help to add value to the business other than being ‘slave’ around?
Ultimately, do you want to be a ‘slave’ to your clients?
5. We don’t sell, our clients consult us
As you talk to more customers, study the trade, you will see the difference in approach of your various clients. You can also observe those who are more successful clients and those who are less successful.
This in return will offer you perfect opportunity to gain the knowledge to advice your clients on what’s works and what’s not in the industry. Your clients would appreciate your in-depth knowledge of the industry and will seek for your advice as a business partners and business consultant.
In addition, you would be able to provide the necessary tools provided by your marketing department to support your clients business and to help deal with some of the challenges that your customers face.
This will earn your clients trust, respect and build your personal reputation in the market. Wouldn’t that be cool?
6. Your boss will see you as the expert in your territory
Because you are spending quality time with your clients, you will gain much insights and understanding of the industry, your customers and the tricks of the trade.
Naturally, over time, you will be the expert in your area and your customers. Your boss will approach you for advice due to your insights, networks and experience. Your marketing department too would seek for your feedback to further improve on the effectiveness of their strategies, tactics and tools.
And when the time comes for sales target setting and forecasting of sales, you are the one that your boss talk to for ‘estimation’ of sales target
Won’t you prefer to see a more realistic and achievable sales target?
7. Last but not least, it is fun!
It is now beyond selling and buying as you would have all the available resources and tools provided by the company in your hands to help you. You could integrate your marketing activities into your selling strategies and go beyond sales figure and price. You could organize variety of activities that will bring yourself and your clients’ closer relationship and better rapport.
You are now having your clients as your buddies and to enjoy the activities together, courtesy of your company and that’s will only make it easier for you to achieve your sales target.
You are the consultant in the mind of your clients and the expert in the eyes of your boss. You earn your respect and dignity by just being marketing orientated in your selling approach.
You will be happier, richer and more respectable as an individual. Isn’t that great? And fun too?
