Those that are in business for the long haul know that they need to build a steady relationship with a customer. They don’t say good bye to a customer after selling him once. They say, “See you soon”. Relationship selling is a process spread over a long period of time and not a series of single unconnected sales. A seller of consumable items to stores knows that he will have to visit the stores again well before the stock of the items is exhausted. Unless the relationship between the seller and the buyer is good– how long does it take for the buyer to change the seller? A supplier of toiletries to a star hotel knows the value of keeping the purchase department of the hotel in good humor. Customer retention and satisfaction have become the buzzwords in customer relationship management.

A happy customer would gladly refer his friends and associates towards your product. It is possible to create a solid network of happy customers that continuously experience customer satisfaction in a virtuous circle.

It may surprise you to discover that many Sales Managers learn how to be a Manager on their own.

According to the latest international study on Sales Training and Sales Force Effectiveness,  many Sales Managers are given very little or no support when it comes to being a competent, effective Sales Manager.  In fact, many Sales Managers reported that they were given no formal training in Sales Management practices, either before or during their tenure as a Sales Manager.

The study reported that Sales Managment training is the category of sales training that is addressed with the least frequency, in fact it is less than annually or not at all.

I was in the Big Apple last week for the National Retail Federation’s Big Show at the Javits center.  Nearly 20,000 people with something to do with retail from the C level (CEO, CIO, CMO) executives, to service providers, to the media – everyone was focused on retail and grateful the holidays weren’t worse than the previous year.  I’ve done my predictions previously so here are some of the current trends in retail I picked up on.

Big Box Retailers Have Given Up On The Browsers; Consumers Are Now Seen As Mission Shoppers. They have to be able to “get in quick and get out.”  It’s like the Internet has been overlaid on the sales floor.  Nowhere could this be more evident than the new touch screen interface from Intel.

Their Intelligent Digital Signage Concept Proof of Concept presents HD video streams on two separate displays.  This signage recognizes customers’ gender and height using video analytics and then immerses customers into a rich multi-touch environment.  They claim this gives retailers “attractive tools that can help create targeted, personal and effective customer connections.” Makes me wonder if they came up with the idea from the Tom Cruise movie, Minority Report