by Don Sanders, 10/22/2004
Decision makers tend to place orders for promotional products with people they like. Rarely does someone give an order to a distributor with whom they have experienced problems in the past.

In addition to being an efficient and effective distributor, it is necessary for you to make your own long-lasting connections. And the more you make, the better. If you can go the extra step of making friends with your customers, you will ensure stronger and more secure business bonds. It is easy to do if you apply the proper actions every day.

Good connections prove that you are more than just an “order taker.” By connecting with people you call on in a meaningful way, you have a greater chance of being trusted by them. People who take selling promotional products to the highest level usually do so because they make their customers their friends.

Getting connected quickly
The easiest way to speed up the connecting process is by making personal calls. Nothing can match face-to-face communication. By making personal calls, you are able to learn “inside” information which helps cut through the selling clutter. In this case, selling clutter refers to all of the variables that affect whether or not someone is actually a good prospect. You cannot possibly learn everything you need to know or truly connect with someone by only mailing literature or calling him or her on the telephone. Only a personal visit can accurately determine the following conditions:
If the person you are contacting is the actual decision maker
The physical nature of the prospect (age, appearance, etc.)
If you have the prospect’s undivided attention
What the working environment at the company is really like
If the prospect is actually in the market for promotional products
Knowing these things is key to successfully beginning the selling process. Visiting new companies puts you ahead of the competition when it comes to finding out what you need to know in order to compete. Connecting through personal visits helps identify the “who, the when, and the where” of selling faster than any other means of communication. Without accurate “inside” information, there is just no way you can formulate the right pitch for each unique prospect. The information gained from such visits also helps determine the appropriate marketing strategy for each prospect.

What are you dealing with?
When you start a new distributorship or take over an existing territory, what do you know about your potential customers? When an established territory comes with old files, some are pertinent but many are outdated. Since it is essential that you start selling at once, the ability to gain knowledge quickly is a must in servicing older accounts in an expedient manner. Pieces of paper alone cannot give you the whole story. Therefore, you must get out in your territory and start the information-gathering process. Obviously, timing is of the essence, and the longer you wait around the office, the greater the chance you have of losing customers to competitors.

You must become a business sleuth
To further business connections, you must demonstrate that you offer something unique, that you are a business asset. With both new prospects and existing customers you must prove that you can truly make a difference in their daily routine. By visiting them personally, you begin building trust. Here is the type of information that is gleaned from face-to-face visits:

Personal history of the prospect’s life (marital status, children, etc.).
Hobbies (reading, fishing/hunting, gardening, traveling, golfing, mountain biking).
Educational experiences
Hometown
Your personal visit will give you the opportunity to find out many other things you might have in common with the new prospect. By being there, you can learn most of the connecting points in a shorter timeframe then you could with phone calls. The personal visit connects you to new customers at a faster pace!

Always do as you say
Some people will say anything in order to hear themselves talk. If you want to do well at selling promotional products, you must be a person of your word. You do not want to be known as ‘blowhard.’ Some sales people are called worse things than that, if they take the “just say anything” approach to selling. If you tell a prospect or customer that you are going to do something, then do it. Don’t promise things you cannot deliver. In other words, become the most reliable person you can be, by doing the following things on a consistent basis:

If a prospect asks you for a sample, deliver it quickly.
Always arrive on time for appointments.
Make sure every order arrives on time.
If something goes wrong, take care of it immediately.
If someone asks for information about you, tell him or her the truth.
By always doing what you say, sales will flow your way and your reputation will grow in stature. Most salespeople have no clue as to the damage they do to themselves and others by not following through with their promises. Don’t be like the “just say anything” types; be different by being reliable.

Expand your mental capabilities
There are hundreds of ways for you to connect with new people. It should be easy for you to find others who share like interest with you, both personally and in the business world. As a way of broadening your knowledge, expand your choice of reading materials so that you can learn more about a variety of subjects. You become a more interesting person in the process and increase your chances of connecting with more people. Couple that with being reliable and you will achieve the following things:

Expand your calling base
Be able to connect with people faster
Learn how to deal with a more diverse set of prospects
Be more comfortable in business settings
Sell at much higher rate
Forming common bonds with people is the key to building long-term relationships. With shared interests, you have a greater chance of keeping competitors away from your customers’ doors. Each day, work at improving your connecting skills and the promotional products selling world will become a much wider place.