MY CAREER

MariikeVeenstra is Head of Sales at IT International, a company based in the Netherlands. She has given an Interview for the company's in-house magazine. Do you agree with the tips she gives?

- Marijke, you have been in sales for a long time, if I may say so What are your tips for people just starting out?

- I have four tips. First of all, the focus for any successful salesperson is building relationships with clients. If I can relate to them as people - and not just as clients - I have a better understanding of how they think, what is important for them and how they like to make their decisions. Small talk is an important tool for doing this. I ask my clients what they do on vacation, what kind of hobbies they have and I try to remember their birthdays or other details that are important to them.

This is directly linked to my second point: I have to be seen to be at my clients' side, to be able to solve their problems with my products andservices I need to think from their perspective, their market. In that way I can offer them not only a product. but a benefit - hopefully the exact benefit their are looking for. The main task of a salesperson is to bu1-time from your client in order to find out about the benefit.

Often that requires asking the right questions. The third strategic question is: how can I recognize that I have 'made an impact'? Here I need to watch my counterpart ‘s reactions - what they say, what their body language says and sometimes even what they do not say..

There is always a moment when the buyers make the mental decision to buy. Of course they don't say this out loud. But there are lots of subtle hints, like when a client says 'we' for the first time or when he talks about the future. Once I know that the client has said yes, I need to make fewer concessions. Again, it is the same principle really: understand your clients' needs, interests and the benefit they are seeking.

Finally, I would expect any successful salesperson to look for a 'point of contact' or an internal ally in the client organization. That should be a person who will think of me when the company needs a solution, a person who prefers to work with me, rather than my competitors. The basis for that kind of contact is trust. Trust in the quality of services and goods, trust in our offers and promises. Clients compare what they expect with what the get. Trust increases when that comparison is positive. And that is positive for us!

Oxford University Press, 2010

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