By Todd Brodersen
While e-commerce and online ordering have slowly become more and more a part of doing everyday business, the events of 2020 have caused their rapid expansion in every retail and service sector. Though online ordering can be convenient, the human-to-human connection is now more important than ever.
The most successful ISRs practice several common behaviors consistently. These behaviors build off one another and when combined, they formulate a complete package for success. As you are reading about these, you may notice that these are things you commonly do in your everyday life without even thinking about it when you are relating to your loved ones or friends. We often do these without any hesitation or thought.
The Top 10 Traits of Successful ISRs:
- Connection
- Respect
- Rapport Establishment
- Relationship Building
- Resource Management
- Industry and Product Knowledge
- Relevance
- Differentiation
- Integrity
- Humility
Connection
We connect with other people every day of our lives and sometimes we do not even realize it until after it has happened. A great recipe for connecting with someone is to find a mutual topic or experience that you can both relate to. What common ground do you share? Striving to understand the needs and wants of your clients also fosters connection.
Showing an interest in someone’s opinions and thoughts often results in them showing some reciprocal interest in you, which in turn offers an opportunity to build the relationship further. Connection paves the way for everything else.
Respect
Respect is the building block for rapport. You cannot have a good rapport with someone unless there’s an underlying foundation of mutual respect. Respect is shown in many ways. One of the most effective ways for an inside sales rep to show respect is to allow the customer to lead the conversation while you gently steer the conversation. Reiterate some of the key points that your customer is conveying to you so that they understand that you are listening.
Relate to the customer at their level during a call, as opposed to focusing on your message and your agenda. Allowing the flow of a conversation to be directed by your customer shows a level of interest and respect.
Rapport Establishment
Rapport is a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well. It is one thing to understand where your customer’s mindset is, or the information that they are trying to convey. It’s a whole other thing to be able to prove that you understand and that you can relate to them and their topic. This does not mean that you have to agree with the subject matter, but that you understand the subject matter and that they have the freedom to express themselves to you.
When answering a customer’s concerns, questions, or even responding to a statement, it’s good form to repeat some of what they just told you. You do not have to repeat their words verbatim, but generalizing the understanding of what they are communicating shows you are listening and engaged. This will help to rapidly establish a rapport.
Relationship Building
Relationships need to be nurtured and grown. They take ongoing effort. The tactics we have discussed above will help lead you down the path to developing fruitful relationships, but they alone will not create a lasting relationship. When working on building lasting relationships it is important to recognize the concept of “give and take.” If one person in the relationship tends to dominate the other, it can ruin or damage the relationship.
As an inside sales rep, it is important not to be so focused on your message, selling products, or delivering information that you forget the nuances associated with the conversation of those in a lasting relationship. The give and take are real. There must be a mutual exchange that leaves both parties feeling like they want to have that interaction again. We have these types of relationships in our personal life and hopefully, we practice the tactics for successful relationships on a daily basis.
Allowing your customer to be who they are during any given interaction, acknowledging their emotions, their sense of urgency or lack thereof, their opinions, and their wants and needs start to create the basis of a good relationship when repeated over time. Providing some unexpected value is another selfless and beneficial tactic that will create a bond and an appreciation. Relationship building takes time, and never really stops.
Resource Management
The millennial generation is now a driving force in the animal health industry as pet owners. Veterinarians need to leverage their spot as the leading resource for pet health information by discovering the methods that the millennials use to gather their information, and then communicate and apply those directly through the outreach methods of the practice. It is more important now than ever for a practice to apply resources to social media and web-based communications. Consumers are now in control.
The days of being the local animal health expert and attracting customers by being in a good location are disappearing. Every practice now has competition at the fingertips of the web-surfing, pet owner world. What resources can you employ to assist your customers with their daily communications, decision-making processes, and client outreach?
Invest some time in learning the latest trends. Learn what you can about online appointment systems, web-based communication tools that go straight to the smartphones, social media exposure, and convenience models for product deliveries and/or prescription refills. Create a conversation with your clients aimed at their success, not about sales or products. Your influence and sales will increase.
Industry and Product Knowledge
Knowing your products and your specials are table stakes for doing business as an inside sales rep. If you are not versed in your products and your promotions, it will be a struggle to be successful as you try and meet the needs of your customers. The most successful reps are those that take the time to learn more about the industry that they serve.
The animal health care industry is not an exceptionally large industry, but it’s constantly changing. Staying abreast of new products, the latest trends, and advancements in medicine is something that can set you apart from many of your competitors. If you only discuss what is new from your company, it can often be misconstrued as self-promotion or lack of interest for your customer.
If you take the time to learn more about what is happening outside of your company and start to share some of that information with your customers, you become a valued resource that now has more to offer than just products and services. Valued resources often turn into trusted confidants. This will separate you from the pack and create an opportunity for success.
Relevance
Relevance seems pretty straight-forward. Making sure that the information you’re delivering is relevant to the person receiving it seems simple. But all too often inside sales reps will have something that they’re excited about and are going to tell everyone that they come in contact with about it. It’s fun to share exciting news, but it can be disruptive in a sales setting.
The discipline to ask qualifying questions before delivering information is a great tactic to keep top of mind. Know your audience. Their needs and interests should drive the information that you provide to them. Folks that ignore this run the risk of damaging their relationships.
When you deliver information that is not relevant to the customer, the customer may start to question things. What are your motivators? Why are they telling me this? Do they even know me?
Providing relevant information is just as important as providing the information in the first place. If it is not relevant, it could be detrimental. Being relevant emphasizes your dedication and interest in your customer’s interests and needs.
Differentiation
How can you personally differentiate yourself from every other inside sales rep? What factors can you implement that will make you different than a rep in the same position at a competitive company? It’s often not the price, the promotion, or even the product mix; it is the people that make the biggest difference when customers are deciding where they would like to do business.
Practicing these top ten traits will make you better in your position and will create a value that is different from others that you compete with.
Integrity
Integrity can mean different things to different people. I’ve read the definition of integrity as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” I love this definition. The ability to live like this takes practice and discipline.
It’s so easy to come to work with issues outside of work weighing you down. Everyday tasks, problems, and even things that are out of our control can take our energy and attention, and all of a sudden we are just going through the motions of what it takes to get to the end of the day. When these days happen, we are not approaching our job with integrity. We are just doing our best to make it through.
Having the integrity to focus beyond your world and put the focus on the customer’s world is monumental. Integrity keeps you doing what you say you are going to do. And ironically, I’ve found that focusing on the customer and doing the best for them on a daily basis can actually lift your spirits as you provide the best service possible to your customers.
A great customer interaction can change a bad day into a good day. Being the best “you” that you can be, takes determination and a lot of practice. Having the integrity to do what say you are going to do is key.
Humility
Being successful brings a level of enjoyment to anything that you do. Those feelings of success are infectious and even addictive. Many successful business people, athletes, and leaders share a key trait: humility.
Being humble is an endearing trait. People enjoy interacting with people that are not boastful or bragging all the time and appreciate when others take time to give credit to others around them. When being interviewed after a big game, the best athletes thank their teammates, trainers, and coaches, and often a higher power. The best acceptance speeches from business and world leaders acknowledge the people that got the work done, not the person giving the speech.
I encourage you to accept and celebrate your wins! Do it in a way that keeps you from being the sole beneficiary by recognizing others as you gain the spotlight. Tell your customers; “I couldn’t have done it without you.” Recognize a co-worker that may have assisted you in some way. People will remember the feeling of being appreciated much longer than someone who brags about themselves.
The thought of learning and utilizing these 10 traits can seem daunting on any given day. Those are the days when they need to be applied the most. Focusing on these behaviors through learning and practicing can have a positive effect on your mood, frame of mind, self-worth, and inevitably your success.
If you employ these top 10 traits, and you put the needs and the success of your customers before those of your own, you will become successful. You will become better connected to your customers and provide a level of service and value that cannot be matched by any website or eCommerce platform.
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Brought to you by Boehringer Ingelheim.
