Throughout my select sales courses at Grove City, my work experience, and my training for my full time sales position starting this summer, I have learned the importance of putting the customer first.
This isn’t just an old adage or a figure of speech like many think; instead, it is a tried and true method of securing more long-term customers and sales. By putting the customer first, you as a salesman demonstrate that you actually do care about them. This is one of the most important parts of relationship selling. Putting the customer first might be as simple as giving them a follow-up call after the sale of a product, or it might be difficult, like having trouble with the delivery of an order and having to hand-deliver it yourself because it is the day before their big event and that’s when you said it would be there (not that this has happened to me or anything). Once they have this understanding that you really do care for them and you respect them as a customer, they will begin to trust you. This trust produces loyalty. We all know how important loyalty is. A loyal customer will almost always stick with you as a rep or your company as a whole for years to come. They will come to you first if there is a problem rather than just moving on to a competitor. And they will surely buy from you again.
I think this concept is the most important part of selling as a whole, and showing the customer that you value them is crucial in turning over sales at a high rate. Customers want to feel like they are the center of the sellers attention, and this can be easily communicated in ways that you said, Riley. Capturing what a customer wants, and delivering to them, along with putting them first, is a necessity in selling.