Hardwood Floors December 2018/January 2019

By Paul Reilly

you offer customers. You can sell to additional locations. Ask for referral business. A referral is the easiest and most effective way to initiate contact with new prospects. The journal of marketing research found that a referral is worth 12 cold calls. Why knock on 12 doors when you can get a referral? The defensive selling formula is simple: create more value for the customer, remind the customer of that value and its impact on their business, and grow your business by leveraging the customer relationship. The best offense is a good defense. Paul Reilly is president of Reilly Sales Training, a St. Louis- based, privately owned company that specializes in training sales professionals, sales managers, and service professionals. Reilly Sales Training offers public seminars, in-house sales training programs, and hiring and training assessments. For additional information on training programs, call or email Paul at 636.778.0175 or paul@ reillysalestraining.com. You can also visit reillysalestraining.com and sign up for his free newsletter.

deliver. For that reason, it’s critical to remind customers of the value you deliver. If the customer forgets about your value, they focus more on price. Find ways to remind the customer of the value you delivered. Post-project walkthroughs highlighting your value added is a great way for the buyer to see the value delivered. Customer satisfaction surveys and testimonials also reinforce the value you delivered. Leveraging Leveraging is a focused effort on growing your existing business. Leveraging is gaining maximum results with minimal effort. It’s more profitable to grow your business with existing customers. The cost to serve these customers is lower. There are several different ways to leverage an existing customer relationship. You can expand the depth and breadth of products

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the magazine of the national wood flooring association

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