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It is often said that it is not who you know that matters, it is who knows you. Well I would like to extend this statement by saying that it is not only who you know and who knows you, but how well do you know them and they you?

In business, networking is the ultimate form of promotion. It can help you to obtain new clients, a new job, or even help you to move up the corporate ladder. It is the process of building relationships. Any time that you attend a meeting, trade show, or a social function, you are networking whether you realize it or not. It is the relationship that you have with people, a prospect or a client that makes the difference between success and failure.

Often we fail to realize the reasons that we have for doing business with an individual or a company. In the case of products that we regularly buy, what helps us to make the buying decision? There are those that will buy a specific brand of product because they trust that brand to be of a high quality or durability. There are others that will make a buying decision based on price, although this is less frequently the case. Often we simply do business because we feel good about it. In fact most purchases or decisions to do business are based on two things. Trust and comfort. Trust is a very intangible emotion or feeling. How do you measure it? How do you develop it?

Trust is measured by the feelings that are generated by a process of letting someone get to know more about you than just product, features and price. I know a gentleman who provides a seminar on selling to C-level executives. He says that to sell to the C-level executive you have to be more than a salesperson selling a product or service. To sell to the executive level, you have to be more of an advisor. You have to find needs other than the ones that you can fulfill and help them to fulfill these needs. In doing this, you become a “trusted advisor”. They feel “comfortable” that you have their interests in mind more than just making a quick sale and a commission.

In our daily process of seeking prospective clients, do we often just look for a person to pitch, or do we spend a bit more time getting to know them before we try to sell?

When we take the time to know a persons desires, dreams, and needs, and make an honest effort to help them realize that these things are important to us, we are really on the fast track to doing business with them. We are building the trust, confidence, comfort level, and most importantly the relationship that is needed to not only make the sale, but to create in them a resource for endless referrals.
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If you are a loan officer or mortgage broker looking to score some more customers the easy way, here are a few good ideas for a marketing strategy.

During the entire process of getting a loan ready for closing, you and your customer are met with more than one reason to celebrate other than at the closing table.

For example, before you can proceed with a loan, your customer must have an appraisal done on their home.

Once that appraisal comes in, both to the liking of you and your customer, send your customer an inexpensive congratulatory gift such as a tin of pretzels, cookies, or candy.

But make sure you send it to their place of employment.

Why do something so cheesy you may ask?

Because when you send someone a gift at work, all of their fellow employees want to know why they got it and who it was from.

So when they ask, your customer will tell them all about you and the products and services you are providing them with.
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Whenever decision-makers are willing to meet with you, you have reached a favorable juncture of circumstances. If you are then prepared to take advantage of this opportunity by building a level of trust with these individuals, there is a good chance that they will tell you enough about themselves so that you can easily recommend the appropriate package of your products and/or services that will meet their express needs.

Many top sales representatives feel that the sale is as good as closed if they can just obtain an appointment or meeting with a decision-maker. Their feeling is that their prospective customer must need their products or services or they would not be willing to set an appointment in the first place. The following checklist has been developed to help you make the most of a favorable juncture of circumstances and build the trust levels that are vital to your overall sales success:

Smile! No matter what kind of day you are having, if you will smile it will give those people you contact a feeling of acceptance. It will also help you feel better about your day. Tape a smiley-face or the word “smile” on your desk or telephone to remind you of the importance of a smile on your face and in your voice. Top sales professionals use the technique of thinking of a funny story or the latest joke they have heard just before meeting a prospective customer. Thinking about the story or joke almost assures them of having a smile on their face as they meet a decision-maker for the first time. Make sure you are smiling as you call for appointments or are conducting a sales presentation.
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It has long been my conviction that the dominant factor in success is the set of mental habits possessed by the individual. Of no vocation is this truer than that of the salesman. “As a man thinketh . . .” applies to him in an all-important way. The techniques and skills, methods of approach, demonstration and closing are matters of demanding study and practice., These things are cold, mechanical, wooden and ineffective except as they are warmed, energized and implemented by the dynamics of a positive personality. A positive personality is never found apart from deep conviction, genuine belief in the fundamentals, the “copybook virtues” known and honored by men and women of character in all generations.

This conviction was strengthened in me some time ago when there came to hand a report of a questionnaire circulated among the members of a Sales Executives Club. These men and women are “top brass” in the sales departments of big business. They have responsibility for the distribution of their firm’s product; have in some cases hundreds, even thousands, of sales managers and salesmen under their guidance and direction. The recruitment, training and management of these forces are their daily concern.

The question asked these sales executives was: What are the qualities or traits of character you value most in salesmen? This is the list they offered, the traits being stated in the order of importance attached to them by these sales executives. There is food for thought here. Note for instance that “persuasiveness” is toward the end of the list. Most people would list the art of persuasion as perhaps synonymous with salesmanship but according to these sales executives there are other more import traits, they are listed below.

Dependability was chosen as the most important.

Integrity was next. With this trait the salesman is incapable either of being false to the trust his company places in him or to the real interests of his customer.

Knowledge of product is one of the three fundamentals of success in the field of selling.

Self Time-management Perhaps no vocation gives a man a greater degree of latitude. He must be a good “boss” for himself and exact a high degree of self-discipline for selling.

Work organization is efficiency in self-management. Much of a salesman’s time is wasted by the prospect. He must guard the balance jealously and make every minute count.
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