Winning Lifelong Customers with The Five Abilities® - The Five Abilities

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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

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

©2015 Rick Wong – The Five Abilities^® LLC

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

Rick and I met while doing business in 2000. I was an executive decision-maker—he managed the people selling to me. That business relationship became a friendship that will continue beyond retirement. The Five Abilities is the framework for how Rick does business, one I found very effective leading to win-win opportunities, and how he coaches others to sell. A good read.

Jim Totton

Vice President & General Manager, Platforms Business Unit at Red Hat. Former Vice President, Software at Dell Computers

Rick’s business knowledge and connections in the technology world are an amazing accumulation of his years of experience and success. His assistance in refining my sales pitch and understanding of Asian markets and partners has been invaluable to furthering Symform’s efforts.

Heather Johnson

VP Business Development, Symform

Rick Wong went above and beyond in growing our medical practice with his Five Abilities concept. He is an exemplary leader, speaker and business consultant that I would highly recommend to any business.

Michael Corsilles

ND, PC-C at Eastside Primary Care and Wellness

After 35+ years in F500 sales, management, and executive roles, Rick Wong has experienced and observed what we present in Selling with Noble Purpose. Salespeople who are consistently top performers are universally driven by the joy of helping and relating with people. Noble intent fuels their competitive nature—not money. It’s a refreshing read from someone who spent a career in the trenches.

Lisa Earle McLeod

Author of Selling with Noble Purpose & Leading with Noble Purpose, President, McLeod & More

Salespeople and entrepreneurs in the B2B world frequently fail because they focus efforts on a generic institutional sale, resulting in an inability to break through and connect with potential customers. Rick provides a framework for how to reorient your efforts to reach the key people inside targeted businesses with authentic communications that they will appreciate.

David Meerman Scott

sales and marketing strategist and author of ten books including The New Rules of Sales and Service

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.

Elinor Stutz

CEO of SmoothSaleTM and author of Smooth Selling, Hired, Inspired Business, The Wish, and more

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 introduces 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.

Dr. Ivan Misner

Founder of BNI and NY Times bestselling author

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.

Amy Karam

Author of The China Factor

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!

Lisa Hufford

Author of Navigating the Talent Shift, CEO Simplicity Consulting – former Fortune 100 Sales Executive

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.

Jeff Levy

Author of Making the Jump into Small Business Ownership, President, JL Consulting Services, Inc. dba The Entrepreneurs Source

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.

Irene Bjorklund

President/CEO, T-Bar Construction – Former Area General Manager, Hewlett- Packard, Northwest Area

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.

Alex Butt

Founder & Chief Revenue Office, Glides Consulting Partners – Culture Transformation Specialists, Singapore – former Fortune 100 Sales Executive

We rank The Five Abilities^® as one of industries top 50 must-read blogs on consultative selling.

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