Be the Bulletproof Vendor

In yesterday’s sales tip, I talked about two ideas for shoring up your existing client relationships to the point where you limit your vulnerability as the incumbent vendor:

1. Be appreciative, and
2. Become the Mayor.

Overall, your goal is to do everything possible to ensure you are sending the message, “Thank you!” It might seem like a simple point — and it is — however, a general lack of appreciation ruins marriages as well as business relationships unnecessarily.

So, Lesson One is: Give thanks.

In today’s blog and in the bonus content sent to Sales Vault members, I want to talk about another way to make certain you are celebrating client anniversaries year after year.

This is a bass-ackward method for getting there.

One of the major differences between a good vendor and a great vendor is this: How you handle problems.

For example, the client calls and says a print job has been paginated incorrectly. They are in a panic because the event that needs the books is tomorrow. The process you follow and the amount of communication you provide along the way can be a tremendous opportunity to gain “great vendor” status.

Your goal is actually rather strange …

You want to be grateful for the screw-up because it gives you the chance to blow the client away with your response.

The thing is, mistakes are going to happen in every account. You want to be able to go to the client afterward and be complimented for the way things were handled.

That’s another step toward being bulletproof.

Sales Vault Insiders will receive additional content all this week. Become an Insider at SalesVaultInsider.com or call Bill Farquharson at 781-934-7036 for more information.