by Peter Knight - Wednesday, 5th September 2007 -

Joe Girard holds the Guinness World Record for being the world’s greatest salesman. In 1973, he personally sold 1,425 cars, including his yet-to-be beaten achievement of 174 in one month.

He credits his success to a simple strategy: he didn’t just find ways to like his customers - he uncovered reasons to love them. It’s a strategy that clearly works.

One of the oldest sayings in sales is "people buy people first". Like many a cliché this is also true.

The art of selling is as much to do with being likable as it is with product or service specification and quality.

Let’s face facts, most companies offer similar products at a similar price. When you’re faced with a 50:50 choice, you buy from the people you like. And if you want to be liked, the formula is very simple: like your customers first.

But we are now in the online age. Increasingly business is conducted with little or no human interaction.

Clearly the old rule of liking can’t be applied - or can it? The truth is, companies and organisations can be liked and disliked as much as individuals.

Here’s six ways to like your customers, and be liked:

One
Treat every customer as an individual. If any of your communications, letters, emails or forms smack of being "standard" then rewrite them.

Lakeland, the creative kitchenware company, state on their website, "We’ve got 31 stores all over the country, from Aberdeen to Truro. If ever you’re passing, pop in - we’d be delighted to see you."

That’s a much more personal way of communicating their size.

Two
Try and hold something back so you can give a "surprise" gift. Last week I facilitated a four-day senior managers’ conference for one of my clients.

Every evening delegates returned to their rooms to find a copy of a book I’d mentioned during the day. The feedback for this gesture was very pleasing, particularly as I had arranged for them all to be signed by the authors.

Three
Offer existing customers exclusive previews of products and services. It surprises me how many businesses fail to do this and treat their best clients no differently from new prospects.

Four
It should be possible for many businesses to mark the anniversary of their customers’ first transaction(s) with a small gift or just a thank-you note.

The common courtesies of business are a rarity these days - so by making the effort, you will stand out from the crowd.

Five
View problems as opportunities to impress. Imagine it was you who’d been let down - how would you be turned from critic to fan?

Six
One of the greatest sales trainers I’ve ever met, Ray Wilsher, sadly passed away last year.

He always imagined every one of his clients to be "Mrs Wilsher" and always considered her reactions, good and bad, to a company’s products and services. It’s a very valuable lesson I endeavour to remember and apply.

So is selling an art or is it a science? If both, is it weighted one way or the other?

Leonardo da Vinci labelled one of his principles "Arte/ Scienza" - the development of the balance between art and science, imagination and logic.

Today we might call that whole-brain thinking. To quote the master himself, "Study the science of art and the art of science." I can think of no better advice for salespeople.