Darren Russell, account manager for Chatsworth, California-based Coronet Printing, said there is no one particular way that "always" gets a salesperson in the door, an e-mail opened or a call returned.
"I think that salespeople need to develop a strategy that works for them and use it based on what they know about the customer," Russell noted. "Again, being a chameleon is important. If your customer likes motorcycles then you as the salesperson should like motorcycles, too, during the time spent communicating with the customer. If your customer wants to talk business only, then you as the salesperson should want to talk business only. I think adapting to the customer's likes/dislikes will get you in the door, so to speak, more often than not—but nothing is 100 percent guaranteed to work every time. I think adapting to what the customer likes/dislikes works best because people like to do business with friends and the best way to make friends with people is to identify with ideas/beliefs they share."