Maintaining a solid sales network

Attracting and maintaining a solid sales network today is the foundation to tomorrow's success. Your net worth is interdependent on your sales network. The more people you know, or who know you, the bigger and more solid your sales network will be.Because people buy from, and refer people to, people they know and they trust, you will find that your success will come from your sales network. So, what can you do to attract and maintain a solid sales network?To attract a sales network you first need to clearly identify your market, your ideal prospect based on your best customers and their profile. Paint the picture of your ideal prospect, the type of customer / prospect that you would like to see in your sales network. If you can't see them, you cannot attract them into your life.Then you need to come up with creative ways of attracting them, engaging them, creating a relationship and then maintaining that relationship for an ongoing solid sales network.When is comes to attracting or building a solid sales network, your objective is not to sell them something, but to acquire the trust to build and maintain a relationship that will turn into sales.Therefore, stop the selling, start attracting people into your sales network by showing interest in others by getting them talking about themselves, asking in depth questions, showing concern and listening empathetically.To attract prospects into your sales network, you need to be creative and do things differently from that of your competition.Ask yourself this question, "what can I do to position myself in the marketplace as an expert where prospects will come looking for me by name?" List out your creative answers.If you are not different you are the same as everyone else. To attract people into your sales network you need to be different.Let me help you out. Is it fair to say that you know more about yourself, your products and services or your organization than I do? Is it also fair to say that you can educate me on how to buy, generate savings, increase performance, etc. on the benefits of your products and services?Naturally the answer is yes to both of these questions because that is how you are probably selling and building your sales network today. Guess what, everyone else is doing that too. That is not how you build your sales network.What if you were to take what you know and reformat it in a way that is not a sales pitch, but and educational type article, seminar or talk where you give readers or participants added value trough how to tips.In the process you are positioning yourself as an authority, an expert and people will come looking for you by name. Your chasing after prospects to do business with you, will be replaced with being chased by prospects who want to buy from you.This is only one of many ideas. Take the time and brainstorm some ideas for yourself.What about a referral fee program? Remember any behavior that gets recognized or rewarded gets repeated.Do you collect and share testimonial letters? Third party stories and testimonials make a big difference. Are you a member of any network or non profit associations?What if you were to step up and be an active member, like the President, would more people know of you and buy from you? Would you attract more people into your sales network? It is in the effective giving that you gain effectively.