When I work with my small business customers, I immediately question how well their sales professionals identify and retain important customer information. I am not only referring to how that information is gathered & structured, but ultimately, how it’s transmitted to those people who need it most – the people at the head office. It’s essential to retain this information and ensure it’s immediately acted upon. The only way to do that is to make sure the company’s sales team is adept at retaining those key pieces of information so vital to winning business.
Improving Memory Retention for Salespeople
Memory retention isn’t easy. Some really have to work at it, while others are naturally inclined to remember everything they see and hear. However, for those sales professionals whose memory retention is less than inspiring, there are a couple of simple and straightforward approaches to improving memory and ensuring the customer information gathered is not only relevant, but important.
Before proceeding with these tips, think of the typical customer visit and how it unfolds. As sales people walk through their customer’s facility, they are invariably exposed to a number of different clues about the customer’s business. Those with excellent memory retention are able to glance quickly and make a mental note of what they see and hear. They then use this information to better understand the steps needed to win orders. However, other sales professionals must not only come up with some way to retain this information, but must also train themselves to look for those clues that provide insight into the customer’s current business position. Therefore, we’ll start with understanding which clues to look for and then summarize the approaches needed to retaining this information.
- Pay attention to your surroundings: What do you hear as you walk through the customer’s facility? Are people discussing a large project, are you seeing activity focused around a specific area and what does this tell you? Look for signs of activity and ask what this activity is all about.
- Look at the customer’s demeanor: Are they happy and invigorated or sullen and indifferent? Every customer provides subtle hints of what they’re faced with. It could be personal or business related, but if you approach it properly, they might just be willing to provide you with some essential information.
- Pay attention to time constraints: Is the customer pressed for time and if so, why? Have they just been awarded a large contract and what does this mean for your company? Are people scrambling because of quality & delivery issues? Retaining this information is vital – provided you know what to look for.
It is one thing to identify these customer clues, but it’s something else entirely to retain the information. Here are some ideas to help retain the information so vital to winning business.
- Use a “Code”: When I first started in sales, I was unaware of what to look for and what these customer clues sounded and looked like. Perhaps I was naïve or merely unaware. However, once I caught on, I needed to develop a process of retaining this information. Therefore, I developed my own code – a code of letters, numbers and quick reference notes I could write down quickly in front of customers when I didn’t have time to take notes. This code would reference pricing, competitive information, volumes, and visual queues I’d seen with the customer. I would then immediately refer to these codes afterwards and transfer this information back to the head office.
- Capture your initial thoughts: Trust your judgment in these instances. If you have a feeling about something, make sure to capture it. Immediately after your visit, summarize your thoughts about how the visit unfolded and what if anything was positive or negative about the visit. Make sure to then transfer this information to those coworkers and peers at the head office.
- Submit trip reports on same day: A number of sales professionals question the need to submit trip reports on the same day. However, memory is often lost the longer someone waits. The longer you wait, the more likely you’ll forget. Therefore, make sure to submit those trip reports on the same day, or at the very least, be sure to transfer all the pertinent information back to the head office.
When it comes to small business sales, capturing customer visit information is paramount to success. It’s never enough to merely identify the opportunity. It’s equally important to understand the criteria needed to close on that opportunity. Again, memory retention isn’t easy for everybody.
A large number of people must work hard at retaining information. While there are plenty of memory games and exercises, sometimes the simplest things are the most impactful. Use that aforementioned code. It’s all about association and once you’ve established your own code, you’ll be able to immediately use it when times don’t allow you to take long notes in front of the customer.
To learn about the B2B negotiation strategies outlined in the above video, please go here.
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