Sold

Make a Deal by Making Friends

BY OLIVER SCHREIBER

Initially when I thought of the word “sold,” I thought of the importance of making sure we always follow up with our prospective clients and leads or, as I like to put it, call them until they “buy, die or call the police!” However, as I looked back on my career, spanning over 30 years, the one thing I have enjoyed the most and still do is meeting new people and making new friends.

As an 11- and 12-year-old playing in youth basketball and baseball leagues, I participated in our team fundraisers by selling candy bars. Most kids would sell between 10 and 30 bars. I sold 200 to 300. Most kids sold to their families. I knocked on doors and set up a table at the local grocery store. My success was largely due to my willingness to meet new people and make new friends. When it snowed in the winter, the folks who bought candy bars from me were the first doors I knocked on to offer my shoveling services. Then, some of my best snow-shoveling customers became some of my best customers in the spring and summer when it was mowing season. We knew each other by name, we respected one another and, whenever we saw each other, there were smiles and kind words exchanged.

I have continued to use this approach throughout my career and share a few tips to use when trying to close a deal. Oliver Schreiber began his sales career more than 30 years ago and is CEO of Beltway Blinds in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. He leads a team that generated more than $11 million in sales last year. He has been a speaker at the International Window Coverings Expo, has received awards for being the largest-volume dealer with Alta Window Fashions for four years running and sits on the National Advisory Committee for a window covering group, Exciting Windows!. He can be reached at oschreiber@beltwayblinds.com.

MAKE AN EFFORT.

Starting with the first conversation on the phone and continuing with all further interactions, a real and genuine effort should be made to treat customers like new friends, building rapport and trust along the way. When they like you and they trust you, they will buy from you. In your own life, would you prefer to make a transactional purchase with someone random where you hope you made a good decision or would you prefer to do business with someone you know and trust?

ASK QUESTIONS.

Start by asking questions, lots and lots of questions. Open-ended, information-gathering questions will show them that you are genuinely interested in doing what is best for them. When the opportunity arises to ask them personal questions, find out about the things that are important to them, like their kids, grandkids and pets. Find out what hobbies interest them and then let them share. You can share, too, like friends do.

LISTEN.

Look them in the eyes when they are speaking, allowing them to be the only thing you are completely focused on. This builds trust and confidence. Listen. Truly listen. Don’t just hear them. Listen to them and process the information they are giving you, asking follow-up questions for clarity. The better listener you are, the more likely the friendship will blossom, trust will be built and they will want to do business with you because they can’t imagine purchasing from anyone but you. The good lord gave us all two ears and one mouth—listen twice as much as you speak.

CREATE A FRIENDSHIP.

These friendships are built from scratch and it is up to you to create one. The person who contacted you for help with their window treatments only knows that you sell window treatments. There are lots of people who sell window treatments. They do not know that you genuinely care. Once they contact you, you must create the relationship. It starts with that first conversation and never ends. You must show them that you care about them and not just their money.

Your potential customers will not make a buying decision based only on the reputation of the company you work for. Their buying decision will come down to how they feel about you and the relationship you have built with them. If they choose to do business with you, it is because of you, not just because they saw an ad. People do not buy the products we sell from companies, they buy them from people … people they like, know and trust. Go out there tomorrow, make a new friend and you will often find that you have closed another sale. V