When it comes to selling anything, from a product to a service, there is one thing that rings true. It is always easier to sell to and get repeat business from existing customers than it is to find new customers to buy from you. Because of this, creating repeat customers is essential to helping your business thrive. How do you create a repeat customer? There are a variety of factors that go into it. A large component is making sure that the person you are selling to is able to save face.
Consider negotiating with a car dealership. A car salesman may take huge advantage of a buyer, and short term they may be making the most money possible on that sale, but long term they won’t be seeing repeat business from that customer. When you’re making a deal you at least have to make the other party feel good about that deal so that they can save face. This can be accomplished in a lot of different ways.
First and foremost is always customer service and building a good business relationship. You want the other party to feel good about doing business with you in the first place. The next thing you want to do is obviously to get them to come to your way of thinking. People like to feel like they made a good deal, like they got a few dollars off. Think of traveling to another country and haggling. They may tell someone a product is five dollars, but the customer will be able to get it for a dollar. Both people like the challenge and in the end they were able to negotiate on a price that left both walking away feeling like they were successful. In every sales transaction, if you want to be successful, both parties have to feel good walking away. Buyer’s remorse is one of the fastest ways for you to lose a potential repeat customer.
No one likes to be sold anything, but people do love to buy things. Even if I do need help in a store, nine times out of ten I will still say no if someone asks if I need help. The reason for this is that I’m afraid if I say yes, I do need your help, you’re going to try to sell me something. You almost feel obligated when you’ve already started to talk to someone, to listen to what they have to say about it. Now you’re stuck. The key here, if you do have a customer in this situation, is to truly try to make the most of the deal. For both of you.
You want to create the best deal that will make you money, but also will leave the buyer feeling taken care of instead of taken advantage of. You want to sell to them again and you want any additional business they may give you through recommendations to their own connections. The last thing you want to do is leave the other party walking away feeling swindled. It’s easier to sell to existing customers than new customers. Your customers and clients should always feel like you were taking care of them.
What do you think that some of the most valuable ways to create repeat customers are? How should you handle sales? Is it more important to get the short term large sale or to establish that trusting relationship after your customer feels like they got a deal? What are your thoughts? Comment below!
