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Relationship Selling
The future standard in sales approach and how
to successfully apply it
A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of European University
In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The Degree:
Bachelor of Business Administration
By:
Matthias Murges
January 2012
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Executive Summary
This Thesis is about how the selling approach is changing in our
actual environment
and how it will develop in the future. The need of great service
for successful
business in the future will increase and I have researched on
how this goal can be
accomplished.
Over time, the Sales industry has gone through a lot of changes
and will keep on
doing so. Differentiation through products and prices will
decrease over time, as
products are easy to copy and prices easy to adjust. This will
lead to a non-
monopolistic market place where the business with the lowest
cost will make the
greatest profit margin in the end. But is this the way you want
to operate your
business? With fear, of making too much loss, when investing in
research and
development departments? A stagnation of the innovation process
throughout every
market? This will not take anybody a step further.
Hence, we need to think of alternatives about how to adjust or
improve our way of
promoting, marketing and selling our products.
This is where the concept of relationship selling comes into
place. This sort of sales
approach makes a huge difference in the perception of the
products, the business
and the employees of that company. I could experience that
through my internship at
a US company.
Therefore, this Thesis has been written to describe the tools
which you can use to
easily apply relationship selling to your day to day business
actions, so that you are
always a step ahead of your opponents. This enables companies to
prevent exactly
what I mentioned above stagnation of research and development.
Hence, decline
in economic growth and human advancement.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction.1
2. Selling and Relationship Selling.1-5
2.1 Characteristics of the traditional Sales Industry.2
2.1.1 Simple Exchange..2
2.1.2 Marketing Products..3
2.1.3 Service.3-4
2.2 Relationship Selling.4-5
3. Different tools used for successful Relationship
Selling..6-43
3.1 Neuromarketing..6-16
3.1.1 What is Neuromarketing?
...........................................................6
3.1.2 Why do clients buy? ..........7
3.1.3 How does brain research help to
understand your clients
better?.................................................7
3.1.4 Emotions and Motives8
3.1.5 The unconscious logic of products and markets9
3.1.6 How purchasing decisions are really being made10
3.1.7 Brain types.11-17
3.1.7.1 Traditionalist...13
3.1.7.2 Harmonizer..14
3.1.7.3 Enjoyer.14
3.1.7.4 Hedonist .15
3.1.7.5 Adventurer..15
3.1.7.6 Performer.......16
3.1.7.7 Disciplinarian.16
3.1.8 Connection to Relationship Selling.17
3.2 EVA 18-30
3.2.1 Explanation18
3.2.2 Hermann Dominance Instrument19-24
3.2.2.1 Different Types19-21
3.2.2.2 How to identify them?
.............................................22-23
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3.2.2.3 Medium to approach the target23-24
3.2.3 Emotional Selling Approach (EVA)25-30
3.2.3.1 The 9 stages.25-30
3.2.3.1.1 Atmosphere has to be right!
.............................25-26
3.2.3.1.2 Increase your emotional Energy!
..........................26
3.2.3.1.3 Call people by their names!
...................................27
3.2.3.1.4 Offer your personality to them!
.............................27
3.2.3.1.5 Start to entrap people!
...........................................28
3.2.3.1.6 Make compliments!
................................................28
3.2.3.1.7 Offer support!
.........................................................29
3.2.3.1.8 Become indiscreet!
...........................................29-30
3.2.3.1.9 Get Feedback!
........................................................30
3.2.4 Connection to Relationship Selling...30
3.3 Storytelling..31
3.4 Structogram..32-38
3.4.1 Explanation32-33
3.4.2 Different Behaviors..33-35
3.4.3 Buying Motives.35-36
3.4.4 Buying Resistance.36
3.4.5 Buying Influence37
3.4.6 Connection to Relationship Selling.37-38
3.5 CRM CMR..38-44
3.5.1 Definition..38
3.5.2 Explanation of CRM and its failure.38-39
3.5.3 CMR System..39-40
3.5.4 CRM vs. CMR.41-42
3.5.5 Reasons for Failure of CRM..42-44
4. Internship.45-46
5. Conclusion...47-48
6. Bibliography.49-50
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List of Tables
Table 3.1 Different Behaviors, Structogram... p. 34
Table 3.2 CRM vs. CMRp. 41
Figure 2.1 Stages of Relationship Selling. p. 4
Figure 3.1 Brain Systems.. p. 10
Figure 3.2 Brain Types Distribution Germany p. 12
Figure 3.3 HDI Types.. p.19
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1. Introduction
Making the difference, trying to outplay competition,
competitive pricing, increasing
productivity these are all goals companies try to accomplish in
order to make the
difference.
But does the difference really lie on the products and their
prices offered nowadays?
Or is there something else that really matters and influences
buyers to purchase?
My research is based on the convincement that it is all about
the service you offer
and the relationship you maintain with your buyers.
Under this assumption my thesis is about:
Relationship Selling The future standard in sales approach and
how to
successfully apply it
2. Selling and Relationship Selling
The selling process has been around for thousands of years.
Egyptians, Romans,
Greeks all the ancient big nations/countries and people we know
about practiced the
art of selling. If it was just a cow against two pigs or a ring
for bread and milk, selling
has been an essential process of everybodys life since all
time.
But sales has been developing up until now and will probably
keep on developing for
quite a while, as human needs and perception changes with time.
Therefore, the
characteristics of the sales industry have been changing as well
over time.
Sales an industry, which has been going through several
different stages of
development, currently reaches its peak in terms of skills
needed and natural
talent/being required. The job of a salesman is not anymore just
turning up at
somebodies house, office or company and telling that person
about how good your
product/service is and leaving again. It is much more about
making the difference
between you and your competitors, as nowadays there is hardly
any differentiation
between the individual products from different companies,
because it is easy to copy
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or almost identically reproduce the product of another company
without breaking the
law.
Hence, the key in nowadays sales world lies in you relation with
the buyer/s and how
you improve and maintain this relation, so that is it not just a
pure sales transaction,
but more like a continuously developing friend- and business
oriented relationship.
Relationship Selling is establishing a long-term customer
relationship in an effort to
generate repeat business. Relationship selling may be directed
at especially
important customers and may include a liberal return policy and
access to high-level
executives.1
2.1 Characteristics of the Sales Industry
If you look at the traditional marketing approach you can see a
lot of differences to
the relationship selling approach. Not just because the
traditional one is transaction
based, or focused on single sales, but also because the aim is
to keep seeking for
new customers and persuade them about your product and your
company in general.
It is the complete opposite of Relationship selling, where you
are trying to establish a
long term relationship with the client, which is based on trust
and regular
communication great Service.
But this change of the selling process has been developed over
centuries, where
people started of exchanging goods for other products that they
need. No sign of
service at all. But it developed as shown below.
2.1.1 Simple Exchange:
Like mentioned above, people used to sell products by offering
them things in
return which they needed. If it was gold, animals, herbs, food,
drinks, etc.
The buyer mentioned his interest and a couple of sellers came by
and made
their offers in terms of what they wanted in return and the
buyer made a
decision in order to which one he was going to choose.
1 Relationship Selling:
http://business.yourdictionary.com/relationship-selling
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2.1.2 Marketing Products:
Later on people realized that it would be much easier if any
seller would just
market its products and potential buyers would come by and
purchase those
things. Like on markets or just in their stores. Hence, shops
have been opened
and people tried to build their own identity.
This kind of selling evolved up until now and has been broadened
and used in
all sorts of medial/merchandise tools. Whereas in earlier
stages,
promotion/marketing ran more through newspapers, billboards and
word of
mouth, today we are more into Television, Radio and especially
Internet
advertisements, as those reach a far wider range and are most
commonly
used in nowadays society. With television, radio and internet
you can reach
almost every age group, with the ability to differentiate
perfectly due to
different people with different needs, interest and age are
visiting/watching
altered websites and TV-channels. But the point I was going to
make here was
that you are simply promoting the product you are trying to
sell. There is no
sign of any service noticeable.
2.1.3 Service:
Intangible products such as accounting, banking, cleaning,
consultancy, education, insurance, expertise, medical
treatment,
or transportation.
Sometimes services are difficult to identify because they
are
closely associated with a good; such as the combination of a
diagnosis with
the administration of a medicine. No transfer of possession or
ownership takes
place when services are sold, and they (1) cannot be stored or
transported, (2)
are instantly perishable, and (3) come into existence at the
time they
are bought and consumed.2
2 Service:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/services.html
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This way of treating customers has been around for a long time,
but was never
really appreciated by the society until the last couple of
decades. This is when
service really started to matter and companies/shops initiated
the focus on it.
But still, from my point of view, there are massive differences
between service
and service. You can either offer service by satisfying all the
customers needs
as good as possible, or you can satisfy the customers need and
improve or
maintain the relation. This is where the difference is going to
be really visible to
the consumers and will be appreciated very much in the long
term.
And thats where relationship selling starts.
2.2 Relationship Selling
Figure 2.1 Stages of Relationship Selling
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This Diagram indicates the different levels of understanding you
will have to meet
before you can successfully apply the concept of relationship
selling. As shown
above, the foundation of any selling process not just in
relationship selling is to
have a good service or product that you want to sell.
3 Relationship Selling,
http://www.wabccoaches.com/bcw/2008_v4_i1/images/trailer-figure3.gif
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Then there is the ability to show that you actually know
everything about the
application and functionality of the product you are trying to
sell. These competences
should make you already a preferred supplier.
To take this whole concept to another level you will also need
to understand the
customers business though, as well as his/her/its industry. If
you do so, you should
be able to see and understand the organizational issues which
will lead you straight
away to a solution based selling basis on which you can easily
built your relationship
with the client. Understanding those things makes you an asset
to your customer and
not an annoying sales person that just wants to hit his/her
number. It makes an
impression as if you are operating as a partner to the business
so it turns out to be a
win-win situation.
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3. Different tools used for successful Relationship Selling
I will describe on the following pages some of the new tools
that companies are using
to change their selling methods, transforming them into
relationship selling.
3.1 Neuromarketing
3.1.1 What is Neuromarketing?
Neuromarketing deals with the purchase- and choice decision of
the human brain,
and especially to what extent and how you can influence
them.
To answer this focused marketing question there are two main
definitions one
which is narrower and the second one from a wider
perspective.
The narrow definition is closely linked to the Brain Scanner or
scientifically correct
speaking Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI). It is
being directly
related to the practices of brain research for market research
purposes.
A more commonly used name for Neuromarketing is Neuroeconomics
or
Consumer Neuroscience.
In the broader definition Neuromarketing receives a more global
view, as it relates
the usage of Neuromarketing to a wider variety of awareness in
the brain analysis. It
also includes the above mentioned theory/definition, but it
tries to include and
integrate all marketing theories and practices known
nowadays.
The brain research has come up with many very interesting and
important mysteries
that could help enormously when trying to apply good
marketing.
So the connection you see here to relationship selling is, that
you will have to
understand the psychology of the human brain and identify the
different mechanisms
used by different clients/decision makers in the company so you
can apply the best
marketing and selling strategy possible.
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3.1.2 Why do clients buy?
So the first question you should ask yourself is why do client
buy?
Well by just reading this sentence it looks pretty easy to find
an answer to this, but
there is more behind it than just a need, that this client has
at that time.
Until a couple of years ago, people used to analyze buying
habits and purchasing
reasons by census and monitoring. This way, analysts found out
connections
between the two and could therefore include people into
different categories that
identify the different characters of managing their
purchases.
Since recent years, the above mentioned way of purchasing habits
identification has
been used more frequently and has come to significant
outcomes.
3.1.3 How does brain research help to understand your clients
better? (Coca-
Cola vs Pepsi)
A study in the year 2003 has been done by Coca-Cola, where they
made people try
both Coca-Cola and Pepsi without them knowing which one they are
currently
drinking. While those people drank the drinks they were
connected to a brain scanner
which measured the brain activity and the different areas that
are being activated or
not. In the blind test both had the same outcome, as the front
brain showed a lot of
activity. This indicates that the brain is being satisfied, as
the body is receiving
something sweet tasting, which is considered a treat for the
body/brain.
Afterwards, they did the same test again, but the volunteers
knowing which one of
the two they are currently drinking. Very interesting was that
when they were drinking
Coca-Cola, the middle- and great brain showed activity as well.
With Pepsi it was the
same as before.
This indicates, that the brand image of Coca-Cola is better
received than the one of
Pepsi and that those little things, like brand name and brand
recognition make a
huge difference.
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3.1.4 Emotions and Motives
Up until now, emotions and motives had been very closely linked
and considered
almost the same, as brain analysts rather speak about emotions
and psychologists
prefer to use the word motives in respect to the same thing.
Brain analysts say that behind each emotion there is a goal that
is meant to be
achieved. Psychologists say that motives are closely related to
feelings, which leads
to a change in body and mimic one of the greatest indications of
people feelings
about something.
Hence, in the Coca Cola example people had more reaction in
their brain as soon as
they knew that they were drinking Coke as they relate this brand
to happiness and
satisfaction. This image has been created by Coca Cola over many
years, by
adapting their slogan always in relation to happiness and
satisfaction in any way.
- Life begins here
- Twist the Cap to Refreshment
- Open Happiness
- Make it real
- Life tastes good
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This example shows how brand image and perception make a huge
difference in the
mind of the customer. A huge difference because of what the
customers brain
relates to the product.
So as soon and as long you understand the customer and how
he/she is thinking you
should find only little difficulties when dealing with them.
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3.1.5 The unconscious logic of products and markets
The product- or service value is being determined by the
positive or negative
perception the client has towards it. Perception is created by
motive- and emotion
fields inside the brain. The markets and products have an
unconscious logic which
consists out of several motive- and emotion fields and need to
be understood in order
to reach out to a customer.
The question you have to ask yourself is: Why do people purchase
products?
Well, obviously because they receive some sort of benefit from
it like a car, for
instance. You purchase a car to get from A to B. Or you buy a
drill machine to get a
hole in the wall. This all describes the functional use of them.
This is very important,
but the real value of a product/service is determined by looking
at it from the point of
view of his motive- and emotion field.
Products almost always activate certain motive and motion
fields, without the client
even knowing about it. And only if a product/service suites the
customers motive and
motion systems receives the product some sort of value to the
customer.
So if we stick with the drill machine, it is obvious that it is
used to drill a hole in the
wall.is the functional use of it. But the drill machine has
another, maybe even more
important, function it saves strength and energy and on the
other hand it gives the
user more power. This feeling of power and supremacy is the real
value of the drill
machine (concrete is easy to break). The more power and the
stronger the machine
the more value it is to the user. Hence, the dominance part of
the brain in therefore
connected with the purchase of a drill machine.
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3.1.6 How purchasing decisions are really being made
- 70-80% of all out decisions are unconscious and even the
remaining 20-30%
are far more unconscious than we think
- Just 0.00004% of all information from our surrounding reaches
our
consciousness. Many amenities and signals are being transferred
to attitude
by the brain, without the client even realizing.
- All fundamental decisions made by a client are emotionally.
Decisions without
emotional components are insignificant
Figure 3.1 Brain Systems
Limbic Types
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3.1.7 Brain Types
Customers have different needs, preferences and wishes. They can
be classified into
different prototypes in order to give you (seller) a better
overview about the situation.
If you then, concentrate your product, brand and argumentation
onto that prototype
you will gain the customers loyalty without a doubt.
Another question we should answer here before proceeding though
is why and if
customers have different buying habits.
Yes, they do. This is also very visible by just looking at the
code of practice. This
clearly indicates the differences.
This leads us to the question: Do target groups, who show a
stable consume scheme
even exists? Or does the purchase of a customer just depend on
the current mood,
situation and circumstance?
Several Experts are saying: target group marketing is out due to
the multi-optional
and hybrid client. The consume schemes are almost identical with
each client. They
only differentiate in respect to their current mood and
need.
However, this cannot be 100% correct, as there is for instance a
difference between
tea drinker and red-bull target groups. There are many older
people who like tea, but
not so many young ones. The same is the case with red-bull. Many
young people
drink it to get a coffin-kick out of it. But not many older
grandmas do the same.
Hence, obviously there are consuming schemes.
In respect to the mood mentioned above there is the example of
people who smoke.
Smokers go from 14-over 100 year old people throughout every
country and every
gender. Many of them light up a cigarette after stress
situations. So the reason for the
consumption was the mood.
These examples refer to the already known justifications for
this trait and state.
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To distinguish better between customers and how to approach them
you can divide
them into groups with different emotion key points. (The
percentages are from
Germany)
- Traditionalist (24%)
- Harmonizer (32%)
- Enjoyer (13%)
- Hedonist (11%)
- Adventurer (3%)
- Performer (6%)
- Disciplinarian (10%)
Figure 3.2 Brain Type Distribution Germany
Breakdown Brain Types
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This breakdown could vary a little bit from country to country,
but this is more or less
a guideline and I dont really want to go into detail about the
percentages but more
about the different categories.
3.1.7.1 Traditionalist:
The right part of the brain (pessimistic) is a little bit more
active. Noradrenaline and
stress hormones are a little bit higher than average, GABA
lower. GABA (Gamma
Amino Butric Acid) takes fear away. In case of too little GABA
depressions are very
common.
Traditionalists check everything in great detail and spend a lot
of time with details.
This is particularly due to the noradrenalin in there brain. It
leads to a high focus in
the great brain and deletes background information.
Due to the supremacy of the balance system, traditionalists are
frightened,
precautious and reluctant towards new things. His consume and
purchasing habits
are also pretty stable. He is the prototype of a loyal customer,
who sticks with a
company or shop for a long time. He orientates himself mainly in
respect to what
other people do and common sense. Brands give him a secure and
trust feeling. His
relation to prices is more reluctant towards bigger spending
though, as he relates it to
potential risk. Due to his frequent lack of confidence, he needs
outstanding service
and advisement. Local goods will be found most commonly in his
trolley and visits of
doctors are very prevalent.
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3.1.7.2 Harmonizer:
This is a very important type when trying to better understand
the female client as
well. The relation to the Traditionalist can be found in the
fact, that the Balance
System is the main player in his brain. The difference between
the two is though, the
social modules bonding and care, which are very pronounced.
Especially the
Social-, Cuddle Hormone (Oxytocin) will be found in higher
concentration with his
type. The Harmonizer is also very cautious, but more open for
others and other
things. Very Important: the feeling of security and harmony
within the family.
Especially things for garden, home, kitchen and animals gain
great interest for
him/her.
3.1.7.3 Enjoyer:
Opposite to the Traditionalist and Harmonizer, whose front right
part of the brain is
really active the Enjoyer uses both sides equally. Dopamine is
the nerve transmission
substance for the Stimulation-System and is mainly found in the
left part of the brain,
whereas the Balance-System and its substances more commonly
appear on the right
side.
Other than with the Traditionalist, who shows a skeptical and
more pessimistic
attitude, the Enjoyers main qualities lie in his open minded and
positive life style. He
loves products which guarantee a high amount of pleasure and
enjoyment. Quality
and natural production are still of a high priority to him (due
to Balance-Part), but the
enjoyment needs to be included. Cosset and being cosseted is his
device. Brands
that promise adventures are his target and he is very contact
friendly. But also his
family cannot come too short.
The Price is not his main criteria, but he still aims for
getting as much enjoyment out
of as little money as possible. He has a very positive attitude
towards his health and
enjoys wellness and services that offer comfort.
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3.1.7.4 Hedonist:
This name comes from the Greek word Hdon = fun, happiness,
enjoyment, delight.
In this type of person reigns the Stimulation-System and
therefore like already
mentioned above, the Dopamine. This leads to the fact, that the
left side of the brain
is more active. He rather combines and connects things he
already learnt than
thinking too much about new ways. He is always looking out for
new stuff and how he
can pleasure himself. Hedonists are very commonly found in
addiction treatment
stations in hospitals. The loud, outstanding and extraordinary
are important to him.
Where the product or service comes from does not really matter
as long as it is new
and different. He is the classified example of an early adopter,
who always wants to
have the latest things and trends. Hence, his attraction towards
fashion is over
proportional. But also when looking at new exotic fruits or
other food coming out he
will be one of the first to try it out. Another important to
know characteristic of his
purchasing style is that he is very impulsive and buys a lot and
often unnecessary
things he does not even like. His loyalty could be better and he
is not very open to
advice. This is due to his very optimistic character, which kind
of eliminates the risk in
many things.
3.1.7.5 Adventurer:
The same as with the Hedonist and a little bit of the Enjoyer,
the Adventurer has a lot
of Dopamine in his brain. This is being combined with another
very common hormone
in his brain testosterone. Testosterone is the male hormone for
sexuality and
dominance. Hence, a very active left brain side. But other than
with the Hedonist,
whose aim is enjoyment, has the Adventurer a fiercer attitude.
To assert oneself, and
demonstrate supremacy is his world. Faster, better and stronger:
The product quality
does not matter too much. His priorities are the visible
advantages and fun. Loyalty is
equal to zero, as well as his need of advice. Everything he
wants and needs to know
has already been researched in the internet. Due to his careless
attitude towards
health he enjoys things where he puts his body to the limit.
Sports with thrill like
mountain biking or climbing are his interests. Products he is
interested in are those
which increase his performance or give him a feeling of freedom.
Drinks like red bull,
but also alcoholic drinks are his favorite and he always chases
low pricing.
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3.1.7.6 Performer:
The sexual and dominance hormone testosterone is leading the
brain combined with
a strong presence of his left brain. However, other than with
the Adventurer, the
happy dopamine component is missing. Testosterone has the
characteristics of
activating somebodies ambition and pushing him forward. Whereas
dopamine
creates some sort of distraction, testosterone does the exact
opposite. A target will
be pushed towards until it has been reached. Products which
include cleverness or
promise high status are very welcome by him, as he always wants
to show that he is
the best. A great wine does not matter to him because of its
taste, but more to
demonstrate connoisseurship in front of friends and colleagues
at the dinner table.
He is always after products that demonstrate money, strength and
power, but only in
public. For his private use at home he likes to go to
discounters and get the cheapest
products possible. Everything that is visible to the outside
though, like clothes for
instance will be from the highest quality and best brand.
3.1.7.7 Disciplinarian:
This is another example of a type whose right brain side is more
active. But also the
left side is a bit involved as his testosterone component is
pretty high.
Due to his pessimistic and distrustful character enjoyment and
alteration only play a
small part in his life. He only buys what he really needs.
Quality and guaranty are
very important to him do to his nature. He compares prices and
takes very long to
come to a decision before he purchases something. Everything
that makes the world
more foreseeable is very welcome to him. For instance product
test with objective
opinions about them are of great importance to him. Latest
fashion is of no interest to
him. All that counts is the pure functionality.
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3.1.8 Connection to relationship selling
Classifying sellers into those characteristics has great
influence on your capability of
doing successful relationship selling.
However, due to the fact, that you cannot just scan the mind of
your client in order to
find out what type of characteristics he has you need to be
patient and work on a
long-term relationship (definition of relationship selling).
Because the longer you
know your client the better you know him and therefore it takes
you each day closer
to finding out what type of person he/she is. And as soon as you
are pretty certain
about the type of person he/she is you will have a great
advantage in comparison to
your competitors who do not value this kind of marketing so much
as you will know
how your client reacts and why he/she reacts like that. This
gives you the opportunity
to prevent any misunderstanding or uncomfortable situations in
the first place and
adds onto your relation with him/her.
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3.2 EVA (Emotionaler Verkaufsansatz/ Emotional Selling
Approach)
3.2.1 Explanation
To break down the concept of Brain Types a little bit more,
Alexander Verweyen, a
German Business Consultant, came up with the concept of EVA
(Emotionaler
Verkaufsansatz), which could be translated to English like this:
Emotional Selling
Approach.
In this philosophy, the brain types play a major role, as they
need to be identified and
taken care of. Like I already explained above, the Hedonist
wants the product/
service to be creative, the Adventurer is looking for action,
the Performer values if it
looks like something great, the Disciplinarian is looking for
the comfort of the product
and if it fulfills its use, the enjoyer has to see the enjoyment
in it and the traditionalist
looks for known things.
If you take for instance a note book and you would like to sell
it to all of those types of
people/ brains, you would need to point out different unique
selling points or
advantages of it. For the Hedonist you would talk about the
cover and that is
available in many different colors, which could be changed all
the time. For the
adventurer you would point out that it tells you automatically
everything about
weather and if there is enough snow on the mountains to go
skiing. The Enjoyer
would be attracted by talking about the fact that it can also
play CDs with relaxing
music on it. To convince the traditionalist it would be a little
bit more difficult, but
maybe you could say that the typewriter has been sold out. The
Performer would
probably be attracted by pointing out that the same model is
being used by the
president. And the disciplinarian would be convinced by its
advantage of being
portable and useable everywhere with a battery life of more than
a day.
Hence, you see that it helps a lot to differentiate clients into
those classes, as each
one of them is looking for something else.
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19
3.2.2 HDI (Hermann Dominaz Instrument/ Hermann Dominance
Instrument)
3.2.2.1 Different types
However, the brain is not just dividable into types of people
but also into different
occurrences of four parts. Those parts are being distinguished
as shown in the
graphic below. This System is called: Hermann Dominance
Instrument.
Figure 3.3 HDI Types
4
Those Parts of the brain with different occurrences give you
indications for different
types of clients.
Type A: The Rational Type
He is very interested in facts and figures. To convince him you
should be well
prepared so you can illustrate him facts, figures and arguments
that are logical and
technically possible. Additionally you should use an advanced
vocabulary to shown
competence. His decision making model is very abstract.
4 Hermann Dominance Instrument
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20
His main question before he comes to a decision is: Do I have/
know all the facts?
He shows positive reaction towards:
- Data oriented contents
- Detailed explanation and illustration of financial and
technical aspects
- Reading and working through of instruction manuals
- The rational illustration of the functionality, for instance
right at the product or
through graphical annotation
Type B: The Controlled Type
Formal Aspects are what he is interested in. So in case you want
to point out
numbers to him, make sure that they are 100% correct until the
last digit behind the
point. Spelling mistakes are being spotted right away.
Furthermore, he does not like a
lot of risk.
His main question before reaching a decision is: Do I stay in
charge/ control?
He shows positive reaction towards:
- Good planning
- Step to step as well as consequent advancement
- Exact and correct calculations
- Organized course of action with reference partner
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21
Type C: The Emotional Type
Feelings are his main guidance. The social and interpersonal
aspects are of major
importance to him. You should point out the communicative,
assisting and
relationship supporting side of your offer. Try to convince him
with your own passion,
as his decision model is emotional and intuitive.
His main question is: how will be my relationship to others? How
can I include a third
or even fourth party?
He shows positive reactions towards:
- Experimental opportunities
- Music
- Linguistic freedom
- Explanations about the effect of the product/ service on for
instance
colleagues
Type D: The Visionary Type
He is looking for holistic coherences. He is interest in future,
creative opportunities
your product/ service is offering. Maybe draw a picture of the
potential hidden in your
offer. His decision making model is dominated by fantasy and
risk orientation.
His main question before coming to a decision is: Which
opportunities will this offer
bring me?
He shows positive reactions towards:
- Great illustrations of future potential
- Spontaneity
- Experiments
- Pictures, Graphics and Models
- The free flow of ideas and inputs
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22
3.2.2.2 How to identify them?
But the question that has to be answered like in all the other
tools that I explain is:
How do I differentiate of classify people into those groups.
Below you will find some
hints about how to do this by simply looking a little bit closer
at your client and his/
her behavior.
The Rational Type:
1. Does he demand facts? Does he want data? Does he like to
debate and
argue?
2. In a conversation is he influenced by subjective-emotional
contents? Does
he block?
3. Does he switch to objective matters? Does he want to receive
illustration
about financial and technical aspects?
4. Is he trying to stay distant? Does he want to keep the
contact frequency low?
5. Is he looking for detailed and straight forward explanations
and facts?
The Controlled Type:
1. Is he interested in formal aspects? Does he point out
mistakes in letters or
emails when meeting in person?
2. Does he repress details? Spelling mistakes and exact digits
after the point are
of importance?
3. Does he demand a huge amount of information and then backs up
to plan the
next step?
4. Does he want to be informed about everything in great detail?
Is he in a
negative mood as soon as he feels like he has been left out of
just a little part
of the whole process?
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23
The Emotional Type:
1. Does he constantly divagate? Does he talk about things that
are off the actual
topic?
2. Is he interested in your personal point of view? Is he
interested in you as a
person?
3. Do you feel like he is influence by you good mood? Does he
realize that you
are not in the best mood, although you are trying to be a
professional, who
does not show any kind of symptoms?
4. Does he show positive respondence towards details, finesse,
optical as well
as esthetic qualities?
The Visionary Type:
1. Is his pretention oriented towards new, extraordinary shapes,
colors and
technical finesse?
2. Is he active throughout the dialogue? Does he move his arms
and other parts
a lot when talking? Can you identify his willingness and
interest by his
gesture?
3. Does he also demand activity from your side? Is he looking
for a surpassing
service, which is individual and open for surprises?
4. Is the overall coherence more important to him than the
individual details?
3.2.2.3 Medium to approach the target
When concluding the information mentioned above it might also be
of great
importance to know through which medium you try to get the
message across to the
client.
In the case of having a rational client you should chose mediums
like:
- brochures,
- information material,
- letter or
- telephone conference
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24
When trying to convince a Controlled Type you might prefer:
- tables,
- diagrams,
- visualizations or
- dialogue
For the Emotional Type:
- emotional conversation
- optionally with a little bit of music in the background
For the Visionary Type:
- tables,
- diagrams,
- active conversation, but not too much
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25
3.2.3 EVA
3.2.3.1 The 9 Stages
After knowing all this about your client the EVA can be applied.
This process has
been split into nine different stages:
1. The Atmosphere has to be right!
2. Increase your emotional Energy!
3. Call people by their names!
4. Offer your personality to them!
5. Start to entrap people!
6. Make compliments!
7. Offer support!
8. Become indiscreet!
9. Get Feedback!
3.2.3.1.1 The Atmosphere has to be right!
Idea: Actively change the atmosphere
Goal: Get your own mood up!
Course of Action:
Become aware of your (bad) mood
Ask yourself: Do I want to carry this mood around all day?
Look for a quiet place/ area
Try to totally relax
Breathe through deep and slowly
Imagine a situation that has been very nice/ successful for
you
Go through the whole situation again in your head
Concentrate entirely on this situation
OR: simply think about a great event that is coming up in the
future (holiday,
Birthday, etc.)
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26
Annotation: If you are not in a good mood, you cannot transmit a
positive attitude to
other people. Clients/ conversation partners want to be talked
to in a positive and
friendly manner. That is why you need to express a positive
attitude.
3.2.3.1.2 Increase your emotional Energy!
Idea: Appearance, Voice, Eye and Ear
Goal: to capture and transmit emotions better also through the
phone
Course of Action:
Emotional Eye: Can you see emotions? (Body language, facial
expression and
gesture)
Emotional Ear: Can you hear emotions? (Voice, accent, volume,
speed of talking)
Test yourself:
How well can I identify other peoples emotions? How sensible is
my
perception through Eye and Ear?
How well can I transmit my own feeling and emotions to other
people?
Emotional behavior: Is your body language open, friendly and
allocated towards
your partner/ client
Emotional Voice: Is your voice emotional? Do you pronounce
differently? Is it an
enjoyment to listen to you?
Annotation: through observations you can learn a lot. Take close
notice of how other
people show/ dont show their emotions and try to find out
why.
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27
3.2.3.1.3 Call people by their names!
Idea: Remember the name of your conversational partner!
Goal: The conversational partner feels like home.
Course of Action:
What differentiates us human all from each other? Exactly the
name. If you do not
understand the name, ask again. If the name is hard to remember,
write it down.
Everybody like to be called by his/ her name very emotional!
Annotation: The names of companion/ partner is as important as
the name of the
conversational partner
3.2.3.1.4 Offer your personality to them!
Idea: Instead of US (company) just I
Goal: Bring yourself and not the company into the game
Course of Action:
We will need to call you back. How does that sound to you - not
very emotional?
Right!
What do you think about this formulation?
Surely will I take care of your business or I will cope with
this now and Better?
Get yourself into the game and not the anonymous company. Build
a relationship
between you and the client. This way you can start to generate
trust, which he can
rely and build on.
Annotation: Obviously you cannot disappoint your client. Make
sure this does not
happen.
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28
3.2.3.1.5 Start to entrap people!
Idea: Approach the Emotions of your conversational partner/
client.
Goal: Win your client with charm
Course of Action:
Persuading or entrapping somebody has the highest rate of
success if there is
sympathy between both parties. Sympathy results out of the first
impression, same
taste, same opinion, similar use of language, etc.
Try to compensate and apply this when talking to your opponent/
client. This way,
you will get far more success out of each conversation. Where do
you see starting
points in the conversation to get a good basis for similar
interests?
Annotation: Still remain classy though!
3.2.3.1.6 Make Compliments!
Idea: Try to think of a compliment
Goal: Gain sympathy of your conversational partner/ client
Course of Action:
To give a positive feeling to your client, make him a
compliment. Try to point out
individual characteristics
Annotation: A very good way would be to ask, if you may make a
compliment.
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29
3.2.3.1.7 Offer Support!
Idea: Can you do anything for your conversational partner/
client?
Goal: This way you pledge somebody for yourself
Course of Action:
Fast notice of need of aid/ support is ideal to get close to
your opponent. But what
kind of help could you offer?
Some Examples:
- Take care of things that do not really relate to the core of
the conversation
matter
- Problem recognition, before you partner realizes it; straight
offer of solution!
Annotation: Offer your help/ support actively (right away) and
do not wait until that
person asks you to help out.
3.2.3.1.8 Become indiscreet!
Idea: Read between the lines
Goal: Get an even closer relation/ connection/ bonding to
people
Course of Action:
Ask things that are not directly related to the conversation or
business. Questions
about family, children, hobbies, vacation, personal interest,
etc.
In the business world, there is not enough focus on these
subjects. Often, similarities
or other interesting aspects will appear through these sorts of
questions. This will
lead to even more positive emotions in the conversation.
But you always have to see if there is an advantage to your
conversation by asking
those questions.
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30
Annotation: Do not be afraid of too indiscreet questions. The
more you know, the
better you can react to what your client wants. This way he will
feel more understood
and valued, which leads to more trust and therefore a better
business foundation.
3.2.3.1.9 Get Feedback!
Idea: Acknowledgment after a phone conversation
Goal: Conversational partner thinks about the conversation
Course of Action:
Successful conversationalists build in a sentence at the end,
where they are asking
for some sort of feedback about the whole conversation.
This way, the conversational partner can tell you his opinion.
Maybe this is even an
opportunity to receive a compliment from the other party as
everybody needs
motivation!
What could be a good phrase to ask for feedback in the end?
Think about that before
you hang up the phone or dismiss your conversational partner
from the meeting.
Annotation: Also with this Emotional Selling Approach do not be
afraid of using it.
Just give it a try!
3.2.4 Connection to Relationship Selling
If you now relate this back to what I said about relationship
selling in the beginning
and what the aim of it is, you can see that this tool brings a
lot of key factors with it to
perform successful relationship selling. Like for instance the
point about trust and
closeness to you client. This will increase loyalty, which leads
to long-term
relationship and business between the two parties the main aim
of relationship
selling.
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31
3.3 Storytelling
Another tool to achieve successful relationship selling is the
storytelling. This tool
relies on the assumption that our brain does not safe images of
objects and actions,
but structures of elements that keep occurring continuously. The
magical word here
is pattern. Humans are success model of evolution because we can
remember,
access, safe and hierarchically align patterns very well.
The metaphor storytelling helps us to recognize and realize
continuous patterns and
its most common use better and to come up with short stories,
romans, or episodes
which entrap people to acquire our ideas service and products.
It does not matter if
you are an actor, writer, artist or sales man whoever sets
higher standards than the
average person sees structures of structures and patterns of
patterns better than
others.
However, even a master in story telling does not exactly know
which sort of script the
story will make appear in the consumers mind, but because he
knows the basics,
which rely on the neuronal data processing, he can increase the
chance of being
able to tell a story that manipulates the consumers brain in a
way that he shows the
desirable behavior pattern. Additionally, it is known that the
start and the end play a
major role of importance in the thought process.
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32
3.4 Structogram
5
3.4.1 Explanation
Another very useful and commonly used tool to analyze people in
order to identify
their habits, ways of thinking, reactions to something and
connections in the buying
process is the Structogram. This tool has been designed to
identify peoples
characters by arranging them into groups according to their
occurrence of the
different brain parts influencing their decision process. Those
parts are the brain stem
(indicated by the green color), the interbrain (marked by the
red color) and the
cerebrum (shown in blue color). According to their arrangement
and occurrence in
the thought process of people, they form different characters.
Where the green-
oriented person is rather looking for close contact with people
and often refers to the
past and makes a lot of decisions by simply using intuition, as
his connection and use
of the unconscious knowledge are of great value and importance.
The red-oriented
character is more authoritarian, competitive, dynamic, referring
to the presence, a
practical thinker and somebody who likes high amounts of
risk.
5 Structogram, http://www.structogram.de/Structogram_RGB.jpg
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33
6
Usually, in order to be as accurate as possible, there are
certain questions you can
answer to identify your own Structogram. Those questions give
indications about how
to move and rotate the Structogram-disk, which leads to
clarifying and illustrating
your type of personality.
3.4.2 Different Behaviors
However, you can also apply this tool by using your trained
instincts to analyze your
opponent. The differentiation between the three colors can be
made by looking at
simply patterns of behavior that people show all the time. These
behaviors have been
illustrated in the reconstructed matrix below:
6 Structogram,
http://www.powerline-vertriebscoaching.de/powerline/images/structogram.jpg
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34
Table 3.1 Different Behaviors, Structogram
Green
Brain Stem
Sensation
Red
Interbrain
Emotion
Blue
Cerebrum
Rationality
Relationship
to People
Contact
Looking for
human
closeness
Intuition for
Human
General
popularity
Dominance
Looking for
supremacy
Natural
Authority
Aptitude to
competition
Distance
Looking for safe
distance
Abstinence
Tendency to
caginess
Orientation
according to
time
Past
Building on
known
Action
through
experience
Avoidance of
radical
change
Presence
Capturing
moments
Impulsive
action
Activity and
Dynamic
Future
Compunction of
consequences
Planned action
Pursuit of
advancement
Thought- and
Working
Process
Sense
Intuitive
thinking, sure
instinct
Authentic first
impression
Fantasy
Understand
Concrete,
practical
thinking
Fast noticing
of feasibility
Aptitude to
improvise
Arrange
Systematic,
analytical
thinking
High ability to
abstract
Aptitude to
perfection
Success
through
Sympathy Electrify Persuasion
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35
So as soon as you are getting a vague idea about which color
might be dominant in
this persons mind you can connect this to another list of how to
approach those
clients.
All three show different purchasing motives, which are clearly
differentiated. Hence,
after you identified the dominant color, you will know how to
approach them.
3.4.3 Buying Motives:
For Red-dominant clients:
- High benefit
- Status Symbol and Exclusivity
- Not complicated
- Emotional
For Green-dominant clients:
- many people do it like this
- Security
- Friendly basis
- Personal interest
- Relation to past experience
- Colors
- Stories
For Blue-dominant clients:
- Understanding due to numbers/facts
- Individual
- Future oriented
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36
These are some indications of what those types of clients
preferred and how you
should approach them to get the maximum success out of it.
But, as well as motives, there are also thing that prevent them
from purchasing
certain goods, which is closely related to how you present them
as well.
3.4.4 Buying Resistance:
For Red-dominant clients:
- Too detailed
- Everybody has it already
- Monotone
For Green-dominant clients:
- Pressure
- Nervousness
- Distrust
- Unorganized
For Blue-dominant clients:
- Open/ unanswered Questions
- Not in great detail
To know what to do and what not to do helps you a lot in
becoming a successful
sales person, but it is not just about how the client itself
would decide and react to
things. A great part of the decision making process goes through
things that influence
this decision and a great deal that concerns this is how you
approach and
communicate with this client. The more you know about this the
greater success you
will earn later on.
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37
3.4.5 Buying Influences:
For Red-dominant clients:
- Compliment, affirm him
- Show acknowledgement/ recognition
- Repeatedly call him by his name
- Active/ agile language
- Punctuality
For Green-dominant clients:
- Sympathy, Empathy
- Gets what he wants
- Friendly, kind
- Little gifts
- Service
For Blue-dominant clients:
- Good preparation
- Punctuality
- Calm
- Choice of words/ language
- Distance/ not too much private reference
- Keep promises
3.4.6 Connection to relationship selling
So basically, to sum this up you can say that the red-dominant
type likes the newest,
best and greatest products, goods and services, whereas the
green-oriented one
puts a lot of value on comfort and service and the blue-dominant
is looking for the
special and individual.
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38
It is an easy tool to use and apply, but with great impact on
your performance. That is
why this technique is spread all over the world and being used
by almost all great
companies as well in management positions as in the sales force
and all other
departments to create a better environment within the company
itself, but also to
make a better impression to the outside (sales).
3.5 CRM to CMR (Customer Managed Relationships)
3.5.1 Definition
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely implemented
strategy for
managing a companys interactions with customers, clients and
sales prospects. It
involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize
business
processesprincipally sales activities, but also those for
marketing, customer
service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find,
attract, and win new
clients, nurture and retain those the company already has,
entice former clients back
into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client
service. Customer
relationship management describes a company-wide business
strategy including
customer-interface departments as well as other departments.
Measuring and valuing
customer relationships is critical to implementing this
strategy.7
3.5.2 Explanation of CRM and its failure
But many CRM projects have failed over the years. How come that
customers offer
so much information about themselves and we still cannot meet
their needs and
demands? Companies try to find out what their customers value
and use this
information to make them loyal or just a kind of frequent
client. This technique has
been moved more and more into the center of company strategies.
A survey from
Gartner Inc. says that 52% of their informants put CRM on first
priority in their
companies. However, in the year 2001 only every fifth company to
use CRM wrote
black digits.
7 CRM,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management
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39
They all seemed to have misunderstood a vital point: Whoever
wants to build a
relationship needs to understand/see the need first.
Many of those people talk about the share of wallet, but what
they do not
understand is that they need to find a way into the customers
heart and head before
they can find their way into their wallet.
The question is though: Why has it not been as successful as is
should have been?
One of the main reasons for this is the aspect of control.
People like to be in control
of everything they do. So in case they are being given a call by
a sales person, they
might feel that they are being pushed into something they do not
like. In this case
they go totally against everything the person on the other end
of the line says, or they
avoid this sort of contact right from the beginning. This is the
reason why catalogues
and brochures are still very much welcome within our society.
That way people have
control about if they want to read this information or not. And
maybe even more
important they can decide when they want to gather this
information. End users have
made clear that they do not want to become a target of a hunt.
They simply expect
companies to be there in order to make their life easier and
stress less.
3.5.3 CMR System
This is why the CMR system has a different aim. It is not being
used to help the
companies but more to favor the customers. The strategy behind
it is pretty straight
forward. It demands a change in management and no management of
change. The
CMR touches every business and cultural aspect of a company,
every relationship
with humans and every technology.
Rather than trying to implement another project or advertising
company, the CMR
system is there to bring the relationship between customer and
company onto a
whole other level by the standards of the customer.
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40
More power over the client does not mean that you can push or
pressure a client
towards something he/she does not like. It means more that
clients tell you what they
feel is important to them. 8
This systems looks like a kind of change in power, as it gives
the client the
opportunity to tell the company exactly what he is interested
in, what kind of
information he needs, what kind of service standard he would
like to receive (like I
mentioned in the Brain Types part: every person thinks different
about service) and
through what kind of communication tools they would like to
receive this information
where, when and how often.
This seems to have already found a great amount of friends in
the society as the
survey of NCR Teradata from 2001 shows that 80% of the
US-Americans would tell
companies more private and accurate information if they would be
treated more
individual. And 60% of the informants said that companies, who
send specified and
purchasing preferred offers would make their lives easier.
8 At the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers in
Internet Real Time, Paul Greenburg
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41
3.5.4 CRM vs. CMR
Table 3.2 CRM vs. CMR
CRM
CMR
The Company is in charge
Customer is in charge
It gives mainly advantages to
the Company
It gives mainly advantages to
the user
In the focus is the trace of
transactions
In the focus are the individual
needs of the client
Clients are being treated as
segments
Clients are being treated as
individuals
Clients are being pushed
towards things, which the
companies think the consumers
want
Clients tell companies what is
important to them
Customers feel like bait
Customers can control the
relationship
Processes are being aligned
around products and services
Processes are being aligned
around the client
1998, Professor Susan Fournier, Professor Susan Dobscha and
Professor David
Glen Mick released an article called: Preventing the Premature
Death of Customer
Relationship Management.
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42
The article said:
Companies claim, that they keep using better and better methods
of relationship
marketing. By taking a closer look at it you can see that the
relation has been
worsened over time. When speaking to the end users all we hear
are bad things
about all the companies out there. They talk about blinding,
frustration, insensibility
and manipulation all in all, they feel like trapped victims. It
could be that the
companies are happy the more they learn about their customers
and the more offers
they send out which hit almost every taste and needs, but the
clients do not seem to
be too glad about it. They do not even have a reason to be.
Since the release of this article there have no greater changes
been made, as people
share the opinion about the fact that technology will make
everything go well without
making any changes in the activity, processes or alignment of
the companies. But if
you want to accomplish long term success, the first step needs
to be made in
changing the processes and philosophy of the business.
3.5.5 Reasons for failure of CRM
This is a list of the nine most common reasons for failure of
CRM concepts:
- Organizational Change 29%
- Pursuit of self-interest and lack of support 22%
- Lack of knowledge about the CRM concept 20%
- Bad strategy 12%
- Lack of CRM-Skills 6%
- Low budget 4%
- Software Issues 2%
- Bad consulting service 1%
- Other reasons 4%
None of those reasons give an indication of the problem coming
from outside factors.
Due to the fact, that 29 percent of the issues are being caused
by organizational
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43
changes the main subject that needs to be focused on has to be
the company
structure itself.
Hence, important for the consumer orientated relationship
management is the
cooperation between processes, humans and technology. Notice,
that I mentioned
technology last, due to the reasons claimed above. And this is
what CMR aims for.
So when we talk about brands as an example to illustrate the
importance of
consumers and their power, it makes it pretty clear that your
relationship towards
your customers is the most important thing in business. Because
what is actually a
brand? Is it a name, logo, company motto or advertisement
slogan? No. it is simply
defined by the perception of a client. The perception the client
has towards the brand
and what he connects with it. This means, that brands are
founded by the consumer
and are also being erased by them depending on the experience
the client gets and
the relationship that is being kept between them. Own experience
are definitely of
greater value than advertisements to the client. That is why
advertisements only work
when they are being connected to the personal experience of the
client. So there is a
little connection to the storytelling, as you are trying to
confront the consumer with
patterns they already known and experienced. This makes them
feel a lot more
secure about the product or service and creates a relation as
they feel more
connected to what they are going to buy. And to be able to do
this, you need to get
information from your clients and use them to offer better
service to them. Make them
the center of attention. The consumer is the king is a sentence
you hear from so
many companies, but they are not acting like this at all
although they believe so. And
this is where CMR comes into the game. Letting the consumer tell
you what they
want and need, so that you can get as individual as possible and
thus create a great
relationship.
David Wolfe and Richard Frazier from Wolfe Resource Group in
Virginia:
Most markets are being controlled by clients and not the
companies. Clients switch
channels when advertising comes up, cancel business relations
with incompetent
companies, leave stores that offer bad service, finish
uninteresting phone calls and
are totally in charge of the decision what they will by and whom
they will by this from.
We cannot do whatever we want with our brands. We are just
administrating them for
their real holders the clients. The brand value is determined by
the preparedness of
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44
the clients to pay for it, not by what we want to take out of
it. Brands have a
personality. Therefore clients only identify themselves with
brands, whose image
suites them. Hence, there is only one way to successfully
position a brand: let the
client find himself within the brand.9
It has been made very visible and clear, by so many experts how
important the
relation between client and company is. Even in a system like
CRM it was the
weakness in the end so that it has to be adapted in order to be
successful in the end.
9 David Wolfe & Richard Frazier, Wolfe Resource Group in
Virginia
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4. Internship
Throughout my internship I came across several different ways of
how to do and
apply relationship selling. From very simple and generally known
techniques to more
advances once.
To see this sort of marketing/ sales approach being used in real
life was the initiator
for me writing about this subject. It fascinated me what huge
difference it made when
looking at the perception of the clients.
The company MedWest Associates Inc. represented the medical
instruments and
implants of Arthrex Inc., the world leading company in Sports
Medicine. And the
recognition they receive within Chicago and the surrounded areas
(where I did my
internship) was great. This was probably first of all due to the
great products Arthrex
Inc. offers and produces, but like I said before, the product
itself will not make the
difference anymore. It is about the service you offer your
clients. And that is what
Arthrex Inc. as well as MedWest Associates Inc. realized and
tried to accomplish.
So what was first noticable was the friend-based relationship
the sales reps built with
their clients. The climate in the OR and throughout the entire
hospital was great when
the reps were around. People appreciated them being there and
you could see that
they did not just talk about business.
The sales reps invited the doctors and some staff occasionally
to dinner, concerts or
sports events where they tried to make them enjoy the company of
the sales rep, so
a better relationship was built, which was also based on trust,
as a lot of private
matters were being discussed there sometimes.
This showed the appreciation for the doctors being there
long-term clients and
hopefully builds up on an even longer collaboration between
them.
The long-term relation became very visible to me when I started
to notice how many
people in the hospitals related Arthrex to the name Paul Lopez
(founder and
president of MedWest Associates Inc.). I see, you are from Pauls
company, arent
you? is the quote I most frequently heard when entering a
hospital. This showed
how much great work he had done in the hospitals long time
before he hired people
to do this job for him. I remember a sentence he told me that
was something like:
Even the weakest part in the chain needs to like you, as they
might have more
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46
influence than you think. And it was clear that he followed this
principle all
throughout his career.
Maybe this sort of relationship selling is not as applicable as
the once I described
above, but it is definitely as useful and successful. I would
probably say that this
shows the groundwork for successfully applying the tools
mentioned above.
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47
5. Conclusion
A series of new techniques have appeared that will change the
sales landscape in
the future. From the information given above it is obvious that
changes have to be
made and a certain direction has to be aimed for in order to
keep differentiating
yourself from others. The differentiation in products and price
will not play a major
role anymore any time soon, as companies can copy products
almost identically and
prices can be adjusted up or down due to the major players being
able to use huge
economies of scale.
A great example for this could be Apple Inc. They were the first
ones to research,
develop and produce a smart phone, also known as the iPhone
nowadays. For the
first 1-2 years everybody wanted to have an iPhone not just
because only a few
competitive machines were available, but also as the competition
was not able to
perform at the standards the iPhone put on the market. However,
you can see that it
did not take long for other companies to catch up with Apple
Inc. and produce similar
good products.
This is a simple example on how service is the only way to make
a difference. But it
is all about the kind of service you are providing. Not only in
the industrial marketing
sector but also on the merchandise area there is a great need
for the relationship
selling strategy. Building a good relation with buyers gives you
a great advantage
over all the competitors trying to sell to this client. You need
to give the client the
feeling that you know everything about the industry and his
company and also act as
a partner to him not just a salesperson trying to sell a product
in order to hit your
numbers at the end of the month. You need to become an asset to
the clients
company and make him want to buy from you.
The tools presented above will help you achieve this goal. My
research has
confirmed that these tools are being used more and more
throughout the entire world
and have already shown great results. Additionally, I believe,
that they are simple to
apply, as many people confirmed that they use them on a daily
basis.
Using these tools to your advantage and applying them throughout
your whole
working process will make you and much more successful and an
ASSET to the
client/ clients company, like already mentioned above. As soon
as you understand
your opponent, why he acts and reacts a certain way, which sort
of products he is
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48
looking for, what he values a lot and what he does not like at
all, you will always be
one, if not two or even three steps ahead of everybody else who
is not doing it.
And this will make all the difference soon.
Just imagine yourself going into a restaurant. You go through
the menu and find
something you would really like to eat. To illustrate it better
we take tuna and salmon
as an example. You tell the waiter that you would like to have
the tuna, but he replies
and says that you should eat the salmon. Maybe you listen to
some
recommendations of waiters, but at that day you only fancy to
eat tuna. You would
tell him again, that you would like the tuna though and he says
again, that you should
eat the salmon. How would you feel? Probably not very
comfortable and you would
think about going to this restaurant again twice.
This is a great example of showing how a seller cannot sell what
he wants if the client
is not interested. But this is what many sales people try to do.
They try to talk their
clients into something they might not even have the slightest
interest in. Hence, you
need to understand your client and offer him what he/ she is
looking for. Only this
makes you successful, and this is what the tools I mentioned are
for
(Neuromarketing, EVA and CMR in particular). Understand your
client from the inside
and the outside; combine those and becoming an ASSET to your
client by offering
what he/ she needs/wants.
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49
6. Bibliography:
Books:
Husel Hans-Georg, Brain View Warum Kunden kaufen
Husel Hans-Georg, Neuro Marketing Erkenntnisse der Hirnforschung
fr
Markenfhrung, Werbung und Verkauf
Husel Hans-Georg, Emotional Boosting Die hohe Kunst der
Kaufverfhrung
Gerhard Bittner & Elke Schwarz, Emotion Selling Messbar mehr
verkaufen durch
neue Erkenntnisse der Neurokommunikation
Hermann Sottong, Storytelling die Kraft des Erzhlens frs
Unternehmen nutzen,
Karolina Frenzel, Michael Mller
Frederick Newell, Von CRM zu CMR (Customer Managed
Relationships) Lassen
Sie den Kunden die Beziehung bestimmen
Sam Parker & Jim Gould, Sales Tough Step up. Work hard. Be
valuable.
Structogram International, Schlssel zur Selbsterkenntnis
Structogram Trainings-
System
Atul Uchil, Relationship Selling: The fine Art of consultative
Sales
Jerry Acuff, The Relationship Edge The Key to strategic
Influence and Selling
Success
Andrea Nierenberg, Nonstop Networking: Relationship Selling for
personal Success
Jim Cathcart, Relationship Selling The Key to getting and
keeping Customers
Bettina Hagen, Storytelling
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50
Anna Stockinger, Neuromarketing - Ich wei, was du denkst?
Kevin Roebuck, Neuromarketing: High Impact Strategies What you
need to know:
Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors
Norman Albat, Neuromarketing als Teil der Marktforschung Die
Auswirkung von
Marken auf das Kaufverhalten
Internet:
Relationship Selling:
http://business.yourdictionary.com/relationship-selling
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sales/methods/relationship_selling.htm
http://www.relationshipselling.org/relationship-selling/relationship-selling-selling-in-
todays-market
http://www.salesmba.com/articles1/ssrl03.htm
http://communication.howstuffworks.com/sales-technique2.htm
Service:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/services.html
Breakdown:
http://www.wabccoaches.com/bcw/2008_v4_i1/images/trailer-figure3.gif