Grabbing your buyer's attention: Purposeful communications

The customer always needs to feel like there is momentum in the relationship, and knows where things stand at any given time. Some of the best sales persons that I've had the pleasure of working with always ensured that each piece of communication had a stated purpose for occurring.

A phone call might confirm an upcoming appointment or may provide follow-up information from an earlier face-to-face meeting. E-mail can also confirm a meeting or reinforce information, but may provide more specific details than a quick phone call. With an identified purpose, I know that sales person is not going to waste my time.

Imagine two voice mail messages that the customer picks up one morning.

Message number one:

"Hey Bob. John from Acme Tools here. Sorry I'm calling after hours but I've been on the road the past week and phone time has been hard to find. I wanted to catch up when you have a minute, so...give me a call tomorrow when you get a minute, OK? I'm at 555-555-5555."

Message number two:

"Hi Bob. This is Tom Johnson from Baxter Tools. When we spoke last week I promised to check on the price of some components on the R-17 for you, and I just got that information late today. Call me anytime tomorrow and I can go over the details with you. I'll e-mail you the information, too, before I head out this evening. You can reach my direct line at 211-555-5555. Thanks, Bob."

If I'm returning one of those calls, Tom has my attention. It's brief, tells me why he called and also provides an e-mail to confirm his message. John might get a call back, if time allows, but I really don't know why he called and I may easily decide to wait for him to call me back instead.

Let's not forget that some sales people like a personal touch- it doesn't always have to be all business. If a customer is a baseball fanatic for their local team, throwing in a game comment in a voicemail or e-mail won't derail your purpose in calling-as long as that purpose is still clear and the message brief. If Tom added this to the above message, has he fouled out or still likely to get to first base? (No second base jokes; I don't know Tom that well yet.)

"Hi Bob. This is Tom Johnson from Baxter Tools. Did you catch the Phillies last night? That was a great game- wasn't sure they could pull it out in the ninth, but they did it! Anyway, when we spoke last week I promised to check on the price of some components on the R-17 for you..."

if Tom knows his customer likes baseball, the comment seems reasonable-quick, and it relates to the customer but doesn't bog down the message with an instant replay of the game. (writing from the home of the Kansas City Royals, I rarely have sales people dwell on recent games so please note these are purely hypothetical examples based on ancient memories of a team with a winning record.)

What Buyers Want: A reason for your communication. Whether it is a face-to-face meeting, a phone call or e-mail have a point and get to it. Your customer will be much more receptive to your next call when they know you respect their time and can keep to the designated point.

For more information on What Buyer's Want: please visit www.whatbuyerswant.net or e-mail me at mark@whatbuyerswant.net