Hello and thanks for visiting.
This is going to be a very interesting article as the thought of relationships being the base for any sales is so accepted in sales and by myself that there is a no doubt about it.
Relationships in sales matter more than anything.
For the last several hours I have been reminiscing about how many times my personal relationships with customers have caused them to purchase from me instead of my competitors even though are products sound and look the same. Often I can charge premium prices whilst my competitors don’t even get away with charging low prices, premium being completely out of the question.
The most obvious differentiator is my relationships to my customers.
I make them my friends and they trust me, just as I trust them to be honest with me. This way we can make deals that helps them and still benefits me.
But after these 2 first hours of realizing the value of relationships I realized that many of my best customers have started using my products while they hated me and I mean some of them really disliked me, they wouldn’t even talk to me over the phone, much less meet me.
They were swayed by evidence, references and a good email presentation.
In a way there is a relationship there, it is just not with me. They made a relationship with the product and the presentation, trusted it and bought it.
The evidence does prove that a good personal relationship isn’t paramount.
Everything doesn’t hinge on the fact if your customer likes you or not, but it certainly does help. In my years of sales I have sold thousands of times and only a handful are without a positive relationship.
It is therefore safe to say that it is something you should try to cultivate but you can go on with the confidence that you can still sell without them liking you.
Many salesman will go to far to keep a customer liking them. Letting the customer become the boss of the conversations and in many ways just become a “suck-up”. In the long run no one respects someone like that and it will damage the relationship.
My advice is to know that it helps to be friends but you don’t have to be. Go in to a sales meeting with confidence and pride. Be respectful, kind and listen to what your customers want, but don’t let them disrespect you.
I would love to hear what you think about this subject and if you have seen a correlation between relationships and your possibilities to sell.
//Daniel
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