Validate Your Customer!

Credit: Tiffany Fox

If you follow me or read my stuff you know that I don’t believe in sales shortcuts. There are no magic phrases. If there were, everyone would use them and they would cease to be magic. Selling is simple but there are no shortcuts.

Having said that, there are some lying right in front of you, easy to do things that will help you shorten the runway and sell more stuff. When you read them, you’re going to say, “nah…that’s too obvious. That stuff won’t work.”

You’ll be wrong. You’ll continue to make selling easier for guys like me. Is that what you want?

Pro Tip: Validate your client. When you validate the person, you’re trying to sell to you raise your own standing. The client, subconsciously, thinks “this rep has things figured out. They can see how smart I am.”

Years ago, I was coaching a sales team in Atlanta. I suggested that we have a client attend one of our sales meetings. The reps would ask him questions and get the client’s perspective on how buying decisions were made.

I’ll jump ahead and share that the idea was wildly successful. Reps loved it. They heard great stuff from someone other than me. The clients enjoyed it too. It became a series of sorts.

One of the client guests really wasn’t a very big customer. He had lots of work. We just weren’t winning much of it. Asking him for help was a longshot.

This guy was very flattered to be asked. He prepared for the meeting. He showed up with handouts for our reps. He had a semi-formal presentation. He shared what works in sales and in the process, sold himself. Helping us with our sales meeting was one of the best sales calls we’d enjoyed with him.

People love to talk about what they do. They like sharing how they make decisions and why. When you give them a chance to talk about their process, they feel validated. They like how they feel in your presence. They feel smarter and you made it happen.

I had a similar thing occur thanks to a printing sample. I had a few overs on a really cool job. I asked the client if I could hang on to 50 or so for my sample kits.

The customer said yes and went on to say more. He was flattered that with all of the projects passing through our plant I picked his piece to show our work. He did me a favor by saying yes. I validated him by bragging on his piece and asking for permission to show it to others.

Think about it. This is one of the easiest sales calls you can ever make. “Mr. Customer, how would you feel about visiting our office and sharing a few insights with our team?” Or, “Ms. Client, your project is a great example of something we’re proud of. May I use it as a sales sample?” Or better yet, “would you mind if we write a case study on this project?”

It’s not a magic phrase or a sales shortcut but it is good advice. Include your customers in your selling. They’ll happily help you.

Photo? My Son in Law and Yours Truly. The dude was a competitive skier. He spent the day with me on slopes well below his skill. He made the day be about me. I was validated.

It is one of my best memories.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.