In 2012 Mike Myatt wrote an article titled To Increase Revenue Stop Selling for Forbes. The article is as relevant today as it was then, maybe more so.
Essentially, the article points out that “creating or expanding business relationships is not about selling – it’s about establishing trust, rapport, and value creation without selling.”
Here are a few snippets that I pulled from the article to give you an overview of what Myatt says in his article. (But still, read the full article.)
- Generate more revenue, with greater velocity by simply doing the right thing in putting your customer’s needs first.
- It’s not about you, your company, your products or your services. It’s about meeting customer needs and adding value. When you start paying more attention to your customer needs than your revenue needs, you’ll find you no longer have a revenue problem to complain about.
- Clients are people, not fish. Don’t “lure” or “hook” them – engage them, listen to them and serve them.
- Eliminate the words “suspects” and “prospects” from your vocabulary and replace them with potential clients. Think about it – do you establish trust by profiling and targeting prospects, or by attempting to understand the needs of a potential client?
- If customer centricity is a buzzword as opposed to the foundation of your corporate culture then you have some work to do. The reality is until I know that you care more about meeting my needs than yours, you’ll remain on the outside looking in.
- Since the large majority of all buying decisions either begin or conclude on the Internet, you better be visible online. In addition to the basics of search engine optimization and traditional search engine marketing, I would strongly suggest getting involved in social networking. Just by having a presence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social networking platforms, you not only open up a new communications channel to your existing clients, but you also make yourself readily available to those looking to find what you have to offer.
- The most important factor in creating revenue and building brand equity is the client/customer/end-user. If you don’t engineer everything around the client, your client relationships will vanish before your very eyes. Don’t be just another vendor, become a trusted advisor and advocate.
The article is well worth reading in its entirety! This link will take you there: To Increase Revenue Stop Selling