Three Key Rules of Sales

Rule 1: Know more about the customer than anyone else.
Rule 2: Get closer to the customer than anyone else.
Rule 3: Emotionally connect with the customer better than anyone else.

Every great sales professional excels at following and living by all three of these rules. In a customer-driven market, which we are in and will be in for the foreseeable future, there are no substitutes for knowing more about, getting closer to, and emotionally connecting with the customer.

The Three Rules are actions that take place simultaneously, for when you know more about the customer than anyone else, you have the ability to get closer than anyone else, and you then begin to connect emotionally. Combining these three actions will give you the single greatest competitive advantage in business.

I have always remembered something taught by the great sales trainer Tom Hopkins. Hopkins always said that your first goal as a salesman is to have the customer "like you and trust you." I agree with this idea, but it's not the starting point. Having the customer like and trust you is what happens when you get closer and establish an emotional connection. The process begins with knowing more about that customer.


Joe Calloway