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Creating Deeper Client Relationships
"It finally occurred to me that I wasn't selling so much as I was joining the customer in buying. After that, it was much easier to do business."
The Detrimental Business Relationship: Are You Putting Yourself at Risk?
It is enticing to take on new clients quickly that seem to have everything that you want, especially the willingness and ability to buy. But what if, in your haste to sign on this great new client, you don’t properly assess how this person will act as a client (it goes the same for business partners, alliances, and friends). Have you taken into consideration not only your short-term benefits, but also the long lasting impact this relationship could carry on you and your company?

Connecting Through Conflict: Five Ways Great Connectors Turn Angry Clients into Happy Ones…and How You Can Too!
It’s easy to connect with clients when things are going well. But when conflict arises, well, that’s when “connectors” truly earn their stripes. Here’s how to transform customer frustration into a stronger business relationship-one that lasts a long, long time.
Five Easy Secrets for Delighting Your Clients
Want to increase your business by leaps and bounds? Then go the extra mile and give your clients a rich, compelling experience.
Nine No-Fail Ways to Boost Referrals for Your Business
Why referrals should be the foundation for all your selling efforts - especially in our challenging economy.
How to Create a Strategy: A Case Study
Clients often tell me they're not really clear about the concept of Strategy. It's a lot easier than you might think. Strategy is one of the steps in the planning process and cycle. Learn how it all fits together.
5 Preventable Pitfalls to Solid Client Relationships and How to Resolve Them
If we consider the collaborative nature of our client relationships, teamwork is essential. So perhaps we can gain new insight into improving our client teamwork by examining our relationships through the lens of the Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. We discover that what's good for team performance is also good for client and customer relations.
Get me a woman
Some of you may be wondering why my blog is called “Sell like a woman”. First, Sell like a woman is not a feminist manifesto nor is it a male bashing exercise. The creation of the title was inspired by an increasing body of research overseas showing that woman are often outperforming men when it comes to achieving real and sustainable results in sales and effective sustainable client relationships. This led me to begin my research project and the book I am now writing, also called “Sell Like A Woman”. I have always been curious about women and their success in sales and wanted to explore the concept here in Australia and develop some Australian-based research as well.
What are the benefits of a CRM system in your business? Part 1
The concept of CRM has been around for a long time. The original form of CRM was a manual card system kept by a sales person that usually sat on the sales person's desk or alongside them in the car. These client cards sets were very valuable to the sales person as this is where they kept important customer information such customer contact details, key contacts in the company, a running commentary on their activities, personal and product preferences, buying patterns, business connections and so forth. Each card was a dossier on each client. To successful, well managed sales people, their client cards were gold.
Competing motivations creating confusion
How to incentivise and reward sales people has long been a contentious topic. Too many times I have seen businesses set up incentive programs that reward the wrong behaviours which can affect team morale, client relationships, sales, staff retention, and so on. For instance, I recently met the managing director of a medium sized software business who asked me why would his sales people keep selling one version of their product when they had been instructed to also sell in a newer more comprehensive version of the product.
What's in a relationship?
The term ‘Relationship Selling' is often bandied about by sales managers and sales people without properly defining what it really means.I often hear "We are in relationship selling" or "We need relationship sales people" however what I do not hear being asked is: What type of relationship are we talking about? What type of relationship are we looking for? What do we mean by relationship selling anyway?
Seeing the world from your client’s perspective can make for easier sales
Each week we meet and speak with a variety of prospective and/or existing clients who have problems they need solving in our area of expertise. It is more than likely we will deal with a mix of clients: some with little or no understanding about what we really do and those with previous experience, knowledge and opinions in our area of expertise. And then there are those clients who are in between. Whatever their level of sophistication, how well we understand and identify our clients' key priorities and problems, and what they value about working with a credible business partner is crucial to developing, attracting and retaining healthy client relationships and growing sales. However, most businesses tend to view the world from their own perspective and not from their clients'. This means:
Forget Cold Calling!
Why do we cold call? No one really likes it, it rarely works, and just thinking about doing it causes people more stress then actually doing it. Why do sales coaches continue to encourage us to do it? If you want to be successful in today's business environment forget cold calling. Put more emphasis on networking, building referral sources, and continuing to deepen long established client relationships. Work on establishing yourself as an industry expert and resource, increase your visibility through marketing and public relations, and find opportunities to consistently add value to all your relationships. Forget cold calling, invest in relationships and value added information. Makes sales more fun, easy and far more effective!
Why do clients really leave you? It may not be what you think
When a client is upset with you…when your spouse is angry at you when your teenager is ranting about some way you’ve wronged her again it very often is not what it appears to be. Yet, in our attempt to minimize conflict, we immediately react to the outburst and attempt to fix the problem they describe. But often, the outburst is just the surface wound, there is much more beneath the surface that needs to be tended to first if we ever expect to properly repair the problem.
Killing Your Competition with (Client) Kindness
Five Core Principles for Turning Clients and Prospects into Raving Fans

Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.
There is an increasing body of research overseas showing that woman are often outperforming men in achieving sustainable results in sales and client relationships. And I promised you I would start to highlight, from my research, what successful sales women do especially well. So here is your first snippet
Are you creating competing motivations in your sales force?
I recently met the managing director of a medium-sized software business, who asked me why would his sales people keep selling one version of their product when they had been instructed to also sell in a newer, more comprehensive version of the product. It turned out that his sales people earned more commission by selling in the older version than the newer version of his product. And the sales people made the bulk of their income from their commissions rather than from their salaries. There you have it. What makes perfect sense to the sales person does not always work for the organisation or the customer.
Profit Success Using LinkedIn – Actions You can Replicate
LinkedIn is networking virtual style. But will it help you find and get new clients. See the latest research.
Seven Ways to Enhance Client Relationships
All other things being equal, people do business with people they like. If your product and pricing are essentially the same as your competitor’s, the relationship will become the differentiator for your customer. To retain the business you must deliver on your promise of quality, service and price, while building a comfortable relationship with your customer. Here are seven ways to do it.
Characteristics of Today's Thriving Companies
While there is a shortage of cash for many firms today, others are making more than enough to survive. What are the characteristics of the companies that thrive? What are they doing that others are not? Most importantly, can you duplicate these characteristics into your business?
Marketing - Organizational and Employee
Organizational marketing attracts ideal customers and clients to your front door. But it is the emotionally intelligent marketing of EVERY employee that is responsible for developing deep life long client relationships.

Your Path to Effective Service Selling
Selling services is far different than selling products, and for reps who want to be successful at "service selling", it's imperative to understand where the differences exist.
Client Communication as Easy as A-B-C
To be a successful consultative seller, you need to grow and maintain a broad base of client contacts. Before you know it, you have hundreds, even thousands of people on your contact list. Obviously it’s impossible to maintain personal contact, yet personal contact is a key to building and strengthening your client relationships.
Uncovering Opportunity
In a tough economy, it is more vital than ever that a professional firm gets a good return on its investment in growth. Like the people, the pipeline represents the future.

Building Your Client Relationships
Am I building relationships or just executing a transaction?
Building Business Relationships - Networking without the Work
If you want to keep your client's dont hesitate to refer them to someone else! If that sounds a little contrary to they way you normally think - then think again. If you can build a partnership with a service or product provider that complements your own, and they have the same standard of service and are willing to reciprocate, why wouldn't you use the most powerful means of advertising - Referrals?
Client relationships start with honesty
Selling your widget to a faceless public may deliver a (faceless) data base, but what if you want more than money from your business experience? More than money? Did you hear me correctly? After all, what is the purpose of doing business?

Weather Any Economic Climate
Do you hear the word recession and immediately begin to panic? Perhaps you start to move slower and slower when it comes to making purchases, hiring staff and investing in sales and marketing activities. You know that by being tight-fisted with your resources you are only compounding the issue, but how do you stop? Follow these three simple strategies and weather any upcoming economic climate: 1) Get real on who your Top Level Target is 2) Fortify your Existing Client Relationships 3) Balance your Marketing Pie Smart businesses know that the economy ebbs and flows at all times. They prepare themselves for any weather condition by following the three strategies above. Are you prepared?

Know Your Client - The First Rule of Business Coaching
Coaching is currently expanding as a development tool in businesses and organisations and it is beginning now to show clear proof of remarkable successes. Careful preparation, with close attention to the required outcomes, means that the coach and client are fully focused. But the first step to accelerate coaching results in the workplace comes from getting really clear on the strengths and weaknesses of the client.
Your Coaching Clients Will Never Let You Go If
There's no greater excitement and satisfaction than seeing your calendar fill with clients. It's a feeling like no other - except - the experience of having the same clients continue booking time with you and turning to you for more! Can you imagine your clients, not only coming back for more but being happy to pay you higher rates too?

Smart Marketers Integrate Public Relations Into Their Business-to-Business
In my experience, B-to-B marketers don’t even think about public relations until the marketing program is already formulated. By then it’s too late. That’s because public relations professionals can look at marketing programs and discern program elements that aren’t immediately apparent. Public relations professionals can see aspects of a marketing program that lend themselves to ideas outside of the mainstream. This is important in positioning of new products or services. Public relations professionals can help create “news,” which can complement other marketing ideas. Public relations, in fact, increasingly leads the branding function.

Turning Lessons Into Action!
Have you ever paid big bucks and taken the time/money to travel and attend high end events? And then you get home, with a HUGE binder of notes and handouts – put it on a shelf somewhere – and get back to the jungle of life and your business? Of course you have – we all have! But what good does that do? In today’s article, I want to share some simple steps that I take to ensure that I get a return on my investment. Try them – you’ll like them.

Other client relationships Related Articles

“Twelve Strategic Ways To Improve And Maintain Strong Healthy Client Relationships, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”
How would you describe the current health of your client relationships? Extremely healthy and fit? Just okay or average? Poor health? Critically ill? On life support? When was the last time your client relationships and your client relationship program had a review? Could you and your company benefit from improvements in your existing client relationships? These are critical questions in today’s world of business. For the purpose of this article, I am going to presume that most readers will admit to stating they could benefit from improved client relationships. And with that in mind, I want to share twelve (12) strategic ways to improve and maintain strong healthy client relationships, according to Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach.

The Insider Secrets to Not Losing Your Shirt on your Client’s Next Project
My client Anna called me last week, completely frustrated, about an unfolding nightmare with her new client. Anna had recently accepted a new client who had an exciting project. They discussed what specific needs the client had, and Anna determined that it would fit in her schedule. She received a down payment for the work, and scheduled the time in her calendar.
Working with Wisdom: Orchestrating Collaboration at Work
How can we enhance our working relationships as a team, and improve our deliverables to the client. How do we collaborate more effectively?
Client Communication as Easy as A-B-C
To be a successful consultative seller, you need to grow and maintain a broad base of client contacts. Before you know it, you have hundreds, even thousands of people on your contact list. Obviously it’s impossible to maintain personal contact, yet personal contact is a key to building and strengthening your client relationships.
RELATIONSHIP SELLING PART I (BUYING VERSUS BEING SOLD)
Do not sell products, services or commodities. Just establish strong relationships with clients and achieve the coveted status of a trusted advisor. Then, your clients will elect to buy services and/or products from you. Never try to sell them. I know that this sounds deceptively simple. Almost as if one could just sit around and wait for things to happen. Establishing and maintaining trusted client relationships without trying to sell them anything, requires a lot of patience and a constant struggle against the temptation to start selling.

RELATIONSHIP SELLING – PART II (TYPES OF RELATIONSHIPS)
Do not sell products, services or commodities. Just establish strong relationships with clients and achieve the coveted status of a trusted advisor. Then, your clients will elect to buy services and/or products from you. Never try to sell them. I know that this sounds deceptively simple. Almost as if one could just sit around and wait for things to happen. Establishing and maintaining trusted client relationships without trying to sell them anything, requires a lot of patience and a constant struggle against the temptation to start selling.
Increasing the Velocity of Your Selling Cycle
Velocity Selling begins with buyer relationships. People buy for emotional reasons and they buy from people they like and trust. The Velocity Selling Cycle starts with building relationships. In the Velocity Selling System, you must first establish rapport with the client in order to build a lasting relationship. You need to know the components of the NLP rapport pie and how to build rapport in the first 30 seconds of meeting.

10 Warning Signs That Prospective Client Is Not Right For You
In difficult economic times it is easy to let go of standards and take on a client who does not fit your vision of your ideal client. When few clients are in the pipeline it often looks attractive to take the ones that show up. When you do this you run the risk of having an angry client or worse one who is out a real energy drainer. Here are ten warning signs that tell you to avoid the client.

5 Preventable Pitfalls to Solid Client Relationships and How to Resolve Them
If we consider the collaborative nature of our client relationships, teamwork is essential. So perhaps we can gain new insight into improving our client teamwork by examining our relationships through the lens of the Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. We discover that what's good for team performance is also good for client and customer relations.
Forget Cold Calling!
Why do we cold call? No one really likes it, it rarely works, and just thinking about doing it causes people more stress then actually doing it. Why do sales coaches continue to encourage us to do it? If you want to be successful in today's business environment forget cold calling. Put more emphasis on networking, building referral sources, and continuing to deepen long established client relationships. Work on establishing yourself as an industry expert and resource, increase your visibility through marketing and public relations, and find opportunities to consistently add value to all your relationships. Forget cold calling, invest in relationships and value added information. Makes sales more fun, easy and far more effective!
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