What are some best practices for creating and delivering wow moments to your prospects and clients?

In my experience one needs to ask correct questions and listen, understand and always be a resource. Build trust and show interest. Genuinely care! Be solution driven to their needs while introducing how to enhance what they think they are needing. Always write personal thank you cards. I always bake, from scratch, Christmas treats, birthday cakes for each client to show them I care. Always stay connected and engaged in them, their business, goals and needs.

Find how can you offer value to your customer! And the trick is that categorizing something as valuable is always a task from your customer, not from you. The only way then is to go deep into understanding who your customer is, what do they eat, when and where do they eat, what kind of food do they eat? It all starts with good research, and nowadays we have plenty of information online.

At christmas time, us sales folk are always busy making sure we send christmas cheer and giving to our clients. It’s a great way to show your appreciation for the business you’ve done through out the year. In the U.K, gifts are often beers, wines and spirits, with chocolates and biscuits. I had one key account where the MD didn’t drink alcohol, however I knew they were a keen climber due to seeing social media posts. This gave me the idea to buy a T-shirt that said Eat,Sleep, Climb repeat on it. The MD sent me a note thanking me and told me how incredibly thoughtful my gift was. The little things that create the WOW moments goes a long way.

Understanding the needs and perspectives of your audience in advance is essential to achieve desired results. One must understand and be equipped to bridge any gap between your value proposition and intrinsic value relative to a client's perception.

Knowing your audience is the first step in creating the WOW moments. However, one needs firs to listen and feel what the customer needs in order to be able to sense what they WANT/NEED and not what you want to show/present. Even if it's the best product ever, if they do not need or want it, then there will be no fit.

The process of delivering on promises - promises made during the sales or pitch process - can start with creating a log of those promises internal to your own organisation. This allows service providers to share (internally) the “pitch promises” and - crucially but often overlooked - remember what promises they actually made. This same log - in whatever form - can also be used as a delivery checklist. This is also useful in situations where service providers are asked to re-pitch for contracts at regular intervals and where there is an opportunity to remind clients how well you kept your promises (which may compare will with rival providers)

When I sent clients a birthday card, 50% of them pick up the phone and say thank you because clients rarely get handwritten birthday cards in the post. It's not like a text, you have to write the card, go to the post office and post it. It takes effort and shows you care. Also if you know the client very well, remembering their kids birthdays is huge.

In a world where you can be anything, just be authentic. Your prospects are most likely to be inundated by messages and cold outreach from so many other business development professionals. One simple but effective way to stand out is to be authentic and true. Be there for your prospect or client, and be there intentionally. The rewards will come and will last long.

I too believe that authenticity is a critical success factor. No matter how much communication technology is available. Folks still buy from folks. Showing sincere interest in their success moves you to a new level in the business partnership.

I find this is the most important aspect: be authentic and sincere. This genuine exchange can be reached if we stay true and leverage our emotional intelligence and empathy. Without sincerity, one cannot be creative, relevant, timely and consistent.

I find if there is a personal interest/fit and believe in what we are presenting/selling, the authenticity and sincerity will come naturally.