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How to connect with customers (and stop begging for business).

Publication: Flooring
Publication Date: 01-JUN-04
Format: Online - approximately 1169 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: How to connect with customers (and stop begging for business).(CFS Column)

Article Excerpt
I see it all the time among retail salespeople--the fatal mistake of begging for a close without first earning a customer's trust. It's looking for handouts. It's petitioning for a sale without earning a prospect's vote and then, like a spoiled six-year-old, complaining when a prospect says "no."

To consistently make the mistake of begging in a sales career is to assume that people always have one hand on their wallet and another on their pen. It's presuming that people always are ready to buy and are willing to sign the paperwork ... if only you ask in the right way. But as consumers, you and I both know that's not reality.

The primary problem with begging is that it's an impatient approach to selling that erroneously puts the onus of success on a salesperson's ability to close rather than to connect with the customer.

Let me share with you five ways to earn customer buy-in before ever asking for business.

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