There is often an opinion that there is sales that needs selling, and there is sales that needs marketing. In other words, there are situations where the seller pushes towards the client, and there are situations where the client is lured to where the seller is. A typical example of the first is almost any B2B sale, from IT to office supplies. A typical example of the second is any sale in a store or salon, from cars to hairdressing services.
Of course, in sales where a flow of customers to the point of sale is required, communication with a mass audience is crucial to persuade customers to come in and make a purchase, or simply to buy somewhere else. Essentially, marketing expenses are the costs of acquiring new customers. So what happens if we suddenly stop spending on marketing? What will happen is that we will be left with only our loyal customers, and they will gradually disappear as well.
Moral number one: It’s important to separate marketing expenses for acquiring new customers from those aimed at retaining and increasing loyalty among existing ones. The former are costly, while the latter are not. If we focus solely on the former, we are essentially renting our market rather than owning it. When thinking about marketing expenses, consider their direction towards a specific audience rather than just cramming the budget with items like “five focus groups, 36 billboards, and 50 TV ad spots.” By distinguishing between new and existing customers, you can view marketing expenses not as unavoidable costs for prestige and image, but as investments. There is a difference, isn’t there?
Now we know that retaining a customer and motivating them to return and buy more is significantly cheaper—by several times—than motivating them to come to you for the first time. What does this have to do with sales?
Sales are based on a fundamentally harmful misconception that a deal is closed when the customer leaves the store with a purchase. This leads to the further misunderstanding that “active” sales skills are unnecessary for salespeople behind the counter. Why is this a misconception? Because the deal isn’t closed at that moment; it has already been closed.
The misconception is that the deal is actually already closed through marketing. The client already knows what they want to buy and why. The seller doesn’t close this deal. The seller behind the counter should be able to close the next deal. This is what we call “active” selling, where the idea of a repeat visit to the seller is sold. This deal needs to be closed effectively. Otherwise, it turns out that by letting the client go “for nothing,” we are throwing away a lot of money on the marketing that brought this client to us in the first place.
Moral number two: Be able to see in the customer who comes into your shop the value you spent to attract them and the value they paid by coming to you (the attention they gave, the time they spent, the curiosity they showed towards you rather than a similar place around the corner). Then the expression “valued customer” will stop being something abstract.
An example? Tell me, after you pick up your car from the service station, does anyone ever call you the next day to check if everything is okay with the car? Does the pharmacist who knows you by face ever ask about your health or whether the previous medication helped? How many times has your real estate broker called you after a deal? Why should you reach out to them after that instead of one of the 10,000 others just like them? Do you have many travel agencies in your acquaintance that called you after your trip to ask about your impressions? Do electronics salespeople often ask you why you chose to buy a particular item? And upon learning your reasons, do they recommend a blog or website discussing that item or its alternatives? Has anyone ever thought beyond just handing you a discount card? This is a simple example of a straightforward approach called “checking in to see how things are going.”
Although it seems like a high level of skill. After all, even a sincere “come again” is something few can muster. And why bother? We are wealthy; we will pay for the rental of the market.