Smart companies realize that customers and clients are the ultimate CEOs and determiners of economic survival. (In membership organizations, members take on this role.) 

Thus, to succeed today, organizations must 1) focus on the sort of consultative, “relationship” selling that ensures success for their key clients and customers (or members), and 2) provide excellent service from top to bottom. The training programs described below, geared to all levels of employees, are designed to build and sustain the long-term relationships that ensure organizational survival.  

For more information, complete course descriptions, or consultation, please click on the Contact Us button.

Clients for Life: The Power of Consultative Selling

Today, trusting, long-term relationships are the goal, not “quick sales”.  At this course, participants learn how to practice the powerful “Platinum Rule”—to give people what they want and need, not what the seller would want in that same situation. They also learn how six ways to raise the comfort level with and become more likeable to a client; how to “flex” to different personality types, generations, and organizational levels; how to lock in loyalty; what to do when clients don’t return calls; how to deal with angry, demanding, or too-chatty clients; 10 ways to keep clients during economic downturns; 10 ways to stay on a client’s radar screen; and how to reach the inner circle—to move from “helpful expert” to “trusted guru”—in 8 (not-so-easy) steps.

In short, participants learn how to make a positive impact with clients by helping more than selling, listening more than talking, problem solving more than persuading, and creating long-term partnerships rather than one-time sales. (1 day)

 

People often need to influence others’ thinking, whether those “others” are legislators, a board of directors, customers, employees, or volunteers. At this workshop, participants learn more than 20 motivators which cause people to buy products, services, and ideas. They also discover how to persuade by meeting the psychological needs of four personalities. Participants learn an acronym (S.M.A.C.K.) to simplify complicated concepts and make their message convincing and compelling; three ways to improve their presentations, and finally, how to use their own natural enthusiasm to get their message across. (2 hours)  For a more in-depth training program, please see “Persuasive Presentations” in the “Presentations and Training” section.)  

Whether dealing with internal or external customers, how employees get along with people can make or break a business. At this workshop, participants get techniques which are as useful with face-to-face encounters as over the phone customers, and as valuable with internal customers (fellow employees) as they are with external ones. They learn learn how to recognize and deal with customers who are demanding, angry, overly chatty, and analytical; how to solve problems by applying four steps to reduce the H.E.A.T. in the situation; and how to review incidents inorder to profit from them in the future. (2 hours) 

Note: If participants manage or supervise others, the workshop does not discuss analytical customers, and instead addresses strategies to empower employees, expect high performance fom them, and increase customer loyalty.

Customers sometimes don’t give people (whether frontline employees or sales professionals) the respect they deserve because they simply don’t look or sound authoritative. This session reveals how to convey competence and confidence. It shows participants how to build an image from the inside out, through professional bearing, mannerisms, and speech patterns. (1 hour to ½ day)

 

The “Platinum Rule” is even more powerful than the “Golden Rule.”  It urges one to give people what they want and need, not what the giver would want in that same situation. In this workshop, participants learn how to make a positive impact with customers by advising more than selling, listening more than talking, problem solving more than persuading, and creating long-term relationships rather than one-time sales. They also learn how to focus on the needs of four personality types, so they can produce a win, win, win outcome—for themselves, the client or customer, and the company. Finally, participants consider the features of their company’s products and services, and learn how to translate those features into benefits. (2 hours to ½ day)

 

Whether someone is promoting a product, a service, or an idea, s/he must appeal to people’s self-interest, make the message understandable, and get their commitment. At this presentation, participants are given 10 persuasive keys to unlock the doors of client acceptance. And the acronym P.E.R.S.U.A.S.I.O.N. makes each proven technique easy to immediately recall and apply. (1 hour. “Ten Keys” is often used as a conference presentation, and  it is also part of the 1½-day course called, “Persuasive Presentations,” detailed above.)

 

Irate customers have been ambushing, frustrating, and/or frightening people since the dawn of time. At this short workshop, participants learn an 8-step process, spelling out “The G.O.A.L. is to C.A.R.E.” Along the way, they learn how to stay cool, how to calm the irate customer, and how to partner with him or her to solve problems. (1 hour)  

Imagine a workplace where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion, and a positive attitude to the job every day—a workplace that is wildly successful. That describes Seattle's world-famous Pike Place Fish Market, and it could describe your own organization. At this workshop, participants learn what separates world-famous service from barely-in-business service; and how work can be more meaningful when employees take the initiative to be there for customers, choose a positive attitude, make people's day, and have fun at work. The famously motivating “Fish” video provides fascinating material for group discussion.  (2 hours)