Selling By Friendship by Ken Kwok Selling by Friendship by Ken Kwok Selling is about making friend not making a prospect into a client. Friends are people. People trust their friends. If you turn your prospect into a friend you will no longer be seen as a salesperson. All of a sudden your relationship with the prospect becomes friendship and you no longer have to pretend to be a nice guy. You become a genuine Mr. Nice Guy to your friend. Selling to friends is easier than selling to strangers. This is a profound concept for true sales professional. Selling by friendship is the ultimate goal of one-to-one client relationship. In a world of inundated sales people where many relentlessly hyped their prospects with egocentric product superiority and eloquent sales pitches, the art of salesmanship has become the art of tongue spinning for raising the dead. The honest truth is many sales people have no feeling for their clients. After fifteen years in sales and marketing I discovered selling to people works best in building friendship with the prospect than building a business relationship. The latter is a superficial approach where the prospect sees you as a businessperson only and nothing more than dollars and cents. Long term client loyalty doesn’t come from special price and term; it comes from whom you are dealing with. The who on the selling side can be a sales representative or a friend. The difference is the depth of loyalty you will receive. So how can you become a friend of your prospects? A nice personality is the key to winning the heart of your prospects. A nice personality means you are always courteous and respectful to your prospects. A sincere smile and a cheerful face can gain your prospect’s respect more than your dazzling sales talk. Impress them with your good manner and relax conversation. Focus on selling yourself not your product and service. Selling yourself means you must socialize with the prospect. Invite the prospect for coffee, lunch, or social gathering to give him or her the opportunity to know you better. If he or she turns down your invitation try again until you succeed. I guarantee the more you socialize with your prospect the quicker you will change his or her attitude towards you as a friend and not as a salesperson. Over time you can sense a significant relationship shift to friendship by how the prospect talks to you. By then you can recommend how your product and service can benefit his or her company. Now your prospect (your friend) will consider your recommendation sincerely with no pressure. If the prospect (your friend) becomes your client and is happy with your product and service you have won yourself a lifetime client and friend. Selling by friendship is highly effective and profound. Any salesperson can build a long lasting friendship with his or her clients. You can be a fisherman of people besides being a sales pro. by Ken Kwok Market Connections www.marketconnections.20fr.com