There is always something new you can learn about your customers, whether they are newly acquired or long-term accounts. Use each sales call as an opportunity to be teachable. It’s amazing how dramatically some customers change! Unless you keep up-to-date knowledge about them, you will soon find they’ve changed and you haven’t. After each sales call, ask yourself what you learned about the customer and, of course, make sure you record it in your customer profile.
Being a student of your current customers in today’s marketplace is extremely important. It is essential that you understand how the state of the economy is impacting their revenue, processes, and decision-making. When you are knowledgeable of their situation, you can more easily position yourself as their advocate and you can provide more creative ways to help them be successful. The extra effort will go a long way when they may be forced to make decisions about which relationships to maintain. You will be seen as a partner rather than a customer.
