Think about it. If you were to survey your customers (and I'm including prospects, here), can you honestly say that they trust you? Not the "will you take a bullet for me" type of trust, but can they COUNT on you to follow up when you say,  to share information openly, and to do the right thing for their business? If you answer honestly a "yes" to these questions and surveyed YOUR customers, we'd find that they do, indeed count on your as an individual who has integrity.

Unfortunately, too many times, salespeople have an adversarial relationship with their customers. You can automatically blame the customers for being hard-headed and mistrustful, or, you can take a look at the sales people's actions and decide for yourself.

For example, sometimes I hear salespeople say to me, "Well, I didn't call my customer back because I didn't have an answer for him." My comment is, "So, does that mean the customer gets less courtesy than expected because YOU couldn't get in touch with your engineering team?" If you don't have an answer, call anyway!

Here are my top 5 tips for building a trusting sustainable, ongoing relationship with your customers:

1. Do what you promise and over deliver by being faster. If you are of the opinion that if you produce more quickly than expected, your customers will get "spoiled" and anticipate quick action every time. If you are concerned about keeping the competition out of your customer's offices, than deliver faster. Remember: "Speed of Execution" is paramount to your success in sales.

2. Provide  your customers with leads. That's right, help them secure new business by sharing information with them. Better yet, make that UNSOLICITED leads. Don't ask for anything in return, just do it. The pay back will be returned to you in spades over the long haul.

3. Thank your customers. If you have been in any of my seminars over the past 10 years, you know that I've been on my "Thank you" campaign. Most salespeople don't say these two magic words enough. Assuming that your customers know that you are grateful isn't enough. Asking your customer to lunch isn't what I'm talking about either. I mean SAY the words! Write these words on a handwritten card, a personalized note, and on a basketball-sized cookie! Let your customers know that you are truly appreciative of their business, because you know that  there's competition nipping  at your heels.

4. Follow up after your sale with exceptional service. If you are handing the customer over to your account management team or engineering group, make sure these people are as skilled at taking care of customers as you are. If they aren't, run (or hire someone) to conduct a customer-friendly training session. Call it "Advanced Communication Skills" not "Customer Service". It's more positive-sounding and you'll be much more likely to get positive buy-in.

5. Stay in touch with your customers on an on-going basis. Even if they aren't currently buying from you, if all went well in the past, they'll purchase from you again. A great way to stay in contact, other than the obvious calls, emails, and trade shows, is to use a personalized greeting card system. Sending your customers customized cards in the mail, helps to differentiate you from email-dependent competition! This is something we've just begun in our office and it's great! It just takes seconds to send a card and costs less than a Hershey's bar. (Read on for information about this in the next segment just below.)

(c)Renee Walkup, SalesPEAK, Inc., All Rights Reserved, www.salespeak.com  678 587-9911