How to Win More Sales by Building Rapport w/ Elinor Stutz [Episode 375]

Joining me once again on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Elinor Stutz, an author, speaker, and consultant. She is author of the book, Nice Girls DO Get The Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results, and, more recently, The Wish: A 360-Degree Business Development Process That Fuels Sales.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Elinor says, nothing is impossible. When a good idea hits you, go for it, and you’ll have no regrets.

Today’s biggest sales challenge is credibility and trust, and getting physical access to the customer. Trust and credibility come from person-to-person contact. Words, actions, and deeds need to be in sync, as they are your brand.

Clients don’t want you to sell a product. They want to tell you their problems, and to hear how you plan to help solve them, if you can. It starts with building rapport and trust.

130 years into industrial sales, why is building rapport the biggest issue? Is the extroverted, aggressive salesperson not a personality that builds rapport easily? Humor and kindness go farther than product features, in securing a sale.

 The Wish tells of how Elinor wanted people to contact her, and to come to her for assistance. Social media made it happen, when she learned the techniques. The Internet sales funnel is upside-down, if you put the right pieces in place.

Know your authentic self and story; make it your brand; develop content; communicate to attract interest among multiple audiences; and build relationships.

Sharing personal stories develops commonality with your audience. Elinor’s blogs include a short introduction, her own related story, and asking questions about the reader’s story, to help solve the problem addressed at the top.

Reciprocity encourages a prospect to reveal something about themselves, after you reveal something about yourself.

Your story has human elements. Talk about your original vision, the struggles you had, how you overcame them, where you are today, and how your long-term vision has developed. People will buy into your journey.

Make your Tweets 75% helpful information that your audience wants, needs, and desires, and 25% tips with a link for people to learn more. Elinor often includes a video within a blog. Share Tweets and posts. Join an online sales group.