THE BOOK

Winning Lifelong Customers with The Five Abilities®

Winning lifelong customers is the lifeblood of enterprise selling and the result that comes from executing on The Five Abilities® sales framework.

Winning Lifelong Customers with The Five Abilities®

by Rick Wong

Winning lifelong customers is the lifeblood of enterprise selling. Repeat business and referrals keep your business growing and profitable. The Five Abilities sales framework teaches you to master the personal connection side of selling in new and instantly memorable ways. You’ll make habit of executing on The Five Abilities that win you more repeat business from the decision-makers to whom you sell.

Businesses don’t make decisions—people do. Most importantly, people make business decisions for personal reasons

Winning lifelong customers is the lifeblood of enterprise selling. New business is important but repeat business is critical to having a lifetime of success whether you’re a salesperson or a CEO. Decision-makers are more mobile than ever before. The days of the 30 year career with one employer are scarce if not extinct. In 2012, Forbes published an article siting that Millennials change jobs, on average, every 4.4 years. Now we’re seeing the advent of the “Gig Economy” where employees treat jobs as projects – expecting and accepting that they will be looking for a new “gig” every 12-24 months.

This phenomenon makes the old adage ‘people buy from people’ even more important in the enterprise arena because no matter where decision-makers move, they want to buy from people they trust. People make business decisions for personal reasons and who better to buy from than people they’ve trusted throughout their career?

People look for five things to guide their personal reasons for making business decisions and The Five Abilities® sales framework centers your focus on those five things. Having this tool to focus your efforts helps to simplify what otherwise is a complex task of addressing personal motivations that drive business decision-makers.

The Five Abilities®

  • VISABILITY: Being seen in the right way, by the right people, at the right time.
  • CREDABILITY: Having superior knowledge about your industry and that of you customer’s.
  • VIABILITY: Business that fits the needs and abilities of both the seller and customer.
  • CAPABILITY: Delivering on the personal reasons people make business decisions.
  • RELIABILITY: Be accountable when the unexpected happens – it always will.

©2015 Rick Wong – The Five Abilities® LLC

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Businesses don’t make decisions—people do. Most importantly, people make business decisions for personal reasons Start winning lifelong customers.

Featured Book Reviews

“Technology has changed the way we find customers and how we help them find us, as I write about in The Wish. However, while the digital marketplace helps us to reach more customers, it doesn’t eliminate the need for a personal connection. People still choose to do business with people they trust. Rick Wong shares an important framework for maintaining focus on the people side of selling, even in today’s technology driven world. Sound insight and a competitive edge are to be gained by reading this new classic sales book, Winning Lifelong Customers.”

“In Winning Lifelong Customers, Rick Wong lays out a very usable framework for doing business on a personal level. This is a timely book in today’s global economy since other cultures, such as China and other emerging countries, demand personal connection before any business can be done. A good read for business people, in general, and certainly those who plan to do business in cultures that prioritize relationship over product.”

“Rick Wong has written a book that reads effortlessly and yet is packed with real world how-to nuggets of information for the most-seasoned salespeople and those just starting their careers. A practical, relevant guide that I will return to often. It will become a well-used dog-eared resource!”

“David Nilsson and I wrote, Making the Jump into Small Business Ownership, which teaches people how to successfully transition into self-employment. Today, I help clients match small business opportunities to their personal strengths and passions. Among the many skills needed by business owners is sales and marketing. In Winning Lifelong Customers with The Five Abilities, Rick Wong offers a sales framework learned over his successful 35+ year career. His structured method is accessible to all and yet comprehensive in addressing complex sales challenges we all face. A great read.”

“I’m glad that Rick has decided to share his knowledge and experiences in this book. The framework he developed while selling HP computers into an IBM stronghold—Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, won us a lot of new business. It will be a helpful read for any salesperson or sales manager, not to mention the many of us who count on successful salespeople—pretty much anyone in business.”

“A private tour of a salesman’s mind… retold in a structured manner, simple to learn, yet sophisticated enough to deal with advanced sales situations. Rare to see complex sales situations structured into such a learnable, simple, and systematic style. A real-life journey of a self-made, successful sales professional.”

“After more than 35 years of successful sales, marketing, executive management, and entrepreneurial pursuits, Rick Wong shares that the best salespeople are driven by helping and relating to others. In Winning Lifelong Customers he 2introduces a simple framework founded on the principle that people make business decisions for personal reasons. His principles are aligned with BNI’s philosophy that Giver’s Gain® and that success comes to those who help others. A great read.”

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rick.wong@fiveabilities.com

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Scottsdale, AZ

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