If you have any doubts about the beneficial selling effects of partnering with your customers, consider the roster of blue chip corporations that have teamed up — IBM with Apple, Chrysler with Mitsubishi, and Disney with almost everyone — and you’ll quickly realize that to stay competitive today salespeople must become partners with their clients. Here are a few rules to follow on the partnering road.

Rule One — Care

Become a partner with your customers by building a foundation of caring strong enough to help prospects buy all they need, want, and desire. Sell from their perspectives. Learn to see your customers’ needs through their eyes and perceptions.

Rule Two — Communicate

The second kind of knowledge is that which allows you to have direct and meaningful communication with your customers. I’ve found that a basic understanding of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) will assist any salesperson to become more effective.

Rule Three — Listen

NLP is the science of how the brain learns. Everybody has a basic learning strategy: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic (feeling). Each is used in various situations, yet most people favor one strategy. Determine your customers’ preferred strategy by listening to the kinds of words they use. Talk with them in their favored terms. A customer who says, “I wonder how this will look on me?” might be a visual communicator. Talk to such a customer in visual terms by saying, “Just picture yourself… ” This is called direct or matched communication; you are mirroring your customer. Had you said, “Feel this fabric,” you would have had a mismatch.

Rule Four — Ask

Your anatomy demonstrates quality communication — two ears and one mouth. This formula means you should listen twice as much as you talk. How else are you going to hear the answers to your questions? Asking about your customers’ needs, wants and desires and their past purchases, will help you to ascertain what product features will benefit them.

Match your customers’ personality styles as well. Open personalities are relationship and social types. Closed are analytical and dictatorial. Fast paced types are social and dictatorial. Slow paced are relationship and analytical. Shift your type to match your customer’s. If you are a social type, as many salespeople are, be careful with the analytical customer. You are open and fast paced, the analytical is the opposite — closed and slow paced. This knowledge, when used correctly, will enable you to have more direct communication while helping you build lasting bonds with your customers.

Rule Five — Offer Benefits

Most people buy benefits, not features. The importance of product knowledge is a given. Knowing your product and its unique abilities to satisfy customer needs enables you to sell benefits.

Simply because you have impressive product knowledge, don’t become a “features jockey.” Features are built into a product by the manufacturer — benefits are what the product does to make the customer or user happy, healthy, and wealthy. Tune in to your customer’s favorite radio station: WIIFM — what’s in it for me? This will help you to talk briefly about features. Then sell benefits.

Rule Six — Examine Motives

Buying decisions are made emotionally. Then logic is used to justify the emotion. Be a partner to your customers. Help them justify their emotions.

Listed below are six customer buying motives that will cover most situations. Learn and understand these motives and you can be a successful partner with your customer.

1) Profit or Gain
2) Fear of Loss
3) Comfort and Pleasure
4) Avoidance of Pain
5) Love and Affection
6) Pride and Prestige

Rule 7 — Urgency!

Answer objections as if your customers are asking questions because that’s what they’re doing. Say, “That’s a great question, I’m glad you asked.” Then go into overcoming their objection by telling how the feature creates a benefit for them. My favorite method is to say, “I know how you feel. Ms. Smith felt the same way about this machine being able to handle their peak work loads. We talked recently and she told me that, in fact, the machine held up better than expected during their peak Christmas rush and she felt it has maintained its efficiency throughout the year as well. She even thanked me for prodding her to buy the heavier model.” This is called the Feel, Felt, Found method. Try it, it works.

To create urgency, talk about the limited availability or seasonal nature of items. The herd effect is sometimes helpful to get people into action. This is when you talk about how many have already been sold today, this week, or month. How many times have you gone back to a store to buy something you wanted but didn’t buy and it was gone? Don’t let this sort of thing happen to your customers. Help them not to be disappointed.

Rule 8 — Get The Money!

You can’t be a partner for long unless you earn a profit. Many salespeople assume that selling is no more than learning many closes. In fact, there’s much more to selling than just closes. An excellent close is silence — if you have enough nerve to use it. Simply review your offer, ask for the sale, and shut your mouth until your prospect softens. For most, silence is very uncomfortable. This is the only pressure I’d suggest you ever use. Some additional closes to help you:

1) The assumption close — Act as if it is natural for all your customers to buy.

2) The act now close — You snooze, you lose! Buy it today before it’s gone.

3) The little decision close — Get them to commit to the style, then to the final choice.

4) The premium offer close — Buy now and I’ll include… Be sure your company really is offering a premium.

5) The door knob close — As you are about to leave your prospect’s office say, “What is the real reason you didn’t buy today?” They feel safe and will answer. Then say, “Oh! I didn’t tell you about that? Let me explain.”

6) The ask for it close — Be bold and unafraid of rejection. Ask for their business.

The selling suggestions I’ve outlined here are not magic nor are they guaranteed to work all the time. They will help you sell more product and build a partnering relationship with your customers. A Zen proverb states, “When the source is deep, the flow is long.” Let your pool of product knowledge and selling skills be deep and your profits be long.