Things Every Salesperson Should Do To Build Better Relationships

“People will forget what you said. They will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

The sales industry is largely based on the relationships you build with your customers and prospects. When you make the prospect feel like they are important and being heard, you give yourself a better chance of closing the deal.

Typically your SDR team sparks these relationships during the initial discovery phase and your account executive then maintains and builds on these relationships. In this article, we will take you through what you can keep in mind before, after, and during calls to build stronger relationships.

But first, some success stories of our own:

Ebook Frenzy

One of our recent deals was initiated by our SDR Rishav by sharing a recently published ebook, with a contact who had gone cold on him. Rishav periodically shares updates and articles with all his contacts and this particular ebook caught the prospect’s attention. He read it and replied to Rishav’s email, and voila! We have a commitment in June. 

Did you say it’s my birthday?

Another one of our SDRs- Sharath makes it a point to add every one of his prospects on LinkedIn, and wishes them on events like birthdays and anniversaries. Last month, out of habit, he wished an old prospect (who didn’t have a requirement earlier) a happy birthday on LinkedIn. Turns out, the prospect was now in a position to purchase a sales intelligence platform, and we were at the top of their mind; all because of a thoughtful birthday wish.

“Preparation is half the battle won”

Before even getting on a call with a prospect, do your homework thoroughly. 

Do your own research about the company- not just what their website says and be done with it. 

Try to have a complete understanding of the company, their background, their products/services. Look at similar companies in the industry, the problems you have solved for firms in similar industries, with similar products, and of similar sizes. This will help you understand what your prospect is most likely facing so you can align your questioning around those needs.

Additionally, research the individual you are going to talk to- their past experiences, interests, accomplishments, and more. These will give you ample talking points to connect with your customer and will make them feel like you are not just looking for a sale, but actually helping them solve an issue.

Building Trust

Earning your prospects trust is essential for your sales pitches. If you cannot make the other person trust you, it will make even an easy sale seem too hard to get. 

One sure-shot (but nuanced) way of building trust on a platform like LinkedIn is having mutual connections introduce you. If you haven’t been talking to the contact in a while, or have never spoken, craft a proper message- with killer writing but politely for an introduction request.

LinkedIn is a very useful way to generate leads for yourself and get ahead. Another way is to send direct InMail messaging to people outside your circle but that needs a LinkedIn Premium account, so if you don’t want the account then this isn’t an option. 

Having mutual contacts agree to introduce you to potential customers is amazing, but that doesn’t mean you end up pestering all your contacts for a referral. Here are some etiquettes you should keep in mind while doing such an outreach. 

On the Call

Let us look at some things you can take care of on the call to see whether your product is a good fit for them.

Listen 

To set the relationship off to a good start, prove you were listening to their needs from the very beginning. 

Your customer will tell you where you can fit best into their stack- if you simply let them. Listen intently, and understand your prospect’s needs.

Ask questions about their requirements instead of just talking about your product. This will help you understand how your product can help them best.. . You can serve them a 100% better with that kind of knowledge by focussing your pitch on the features that serve your prospect’s pain points. 

Use relevant bits of information to fund your research

You did your research on the person whom you are talking to, but now what do you do with this information? You slip it in conversation. 

For example, you found out that your prospect won an award through LinkedIn, or has been featured in an article. During your call, you can congratulate them for the same, “Oh and by the way congratulations for winning the XYZ award" or "and I must say your growth in the last 3 years has been tremendous, I was reading this article about your company on LinkedIn and your work has been terrific“

After the Call 

Follow up calls

You will not close a deal on the first meeting with your prospect. You need to gain their trust and make them believe you are better than the alternatives they are looking at.  

The follow-up meetings should be content-based, focusing on an area of your proposal they seemed particularly interested in the discovery. It doesn’t need to be complicated—think along the lines of an email with links to further information. Again, keeping track of everything that’s been said is crucial

By the second meeting, you should be addressing all the relevant contacts involved by their names. 

“Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

While a lot of reps look for shortcuts for success, I have realized you can only build good relationships over time, and from scratch. Each client is unique, and they come with their own unique set of requirements. Don’t try to fit everyone in your standardized flow.

After the Sale

Keep Your Promises

I have only one thing to say here: Deliver. Don’t make promises before checking with your internal teams about the deliverables. Be as open with them as you can regarding deadlines and future additions to your product. Once the sale is done, make sure all of their requirements that were agreed upon are sent to the relevant teams and get realistic deadlines with them. Provide them a good onboarding experience, and make sure their requests are communicated to the customer success team on time. 

Add to Your Professional Network: 

This is a practice I follow staunchly and make my team do too. Always send a request to the person you are talking to on your professional network, a day after the call. Keep in touch with them even if the sale doesn’t close. You put in a lot of effort to find out about them- so don’t let it all go to waste. Follow their company on social media and in the news and congratulate them on their successes. Let them know when you release new products and new features. If they find value, they will want to do business with you. 

Add Value

Now that you have them on your professional and social media, try sending them some reading material pertaining to your product: 

• Updates about your product
• Product value add specific to the prospect
• New features you are releasing 
• Referral programs 
• Seasons greetings [holidays]

Reviving Cold and Lost Accounts 

Delight Them

Who doesn’t like surprises? 

Surprise your prospects with something unique and fun. It could be a small array of chocolates or sweets, something that would remind them of you. And make them keep you in mind for their next venture. Just last year our colleague Harsha got these yummy cupcakes from Pink Lemonade and that really made his and some other people’s days at the office much happier. I mean, look at them! 

Continuous Engagement

Sales relationships aren’t built overnight – they take time to nurture and grow. You need to be prepared to put in the time to build strong relationships with your prospects. Be considerate and try to add value to their lives by being in touch: 

• Wishing them on Birthdays, anniversaries and other major life events 
• Acknowledging announcements like a product launch, upcoming events, partnership announcements.   
• Engaging with their content

Don’t limit yourself to liking/sharing their content, there is a lot more you can do to engage with them and get noticed:

1. Sharing content which they might find interesting rather than just industry-related news and events
2. Actually reading their articles and commenting on them
3. Sending them collateral like articles and ebooks on topics they are currently interested in
4. Sharing their content to your social channels 

These best practices should be used as a launchpad for building relationships with prospects and clients. Each client you work with will likely have their own expectations and business needs. Work with them to find a system that works for both of you, try to be as authentic and genuine as you can. Prioritize building a long-term relationship that will help both of your businesses grow.