Lately I’ve read numerous articles on the topic of business relationships regarding whether or not they are as valuable as they have been in the past. Some “new age” sales trainers give the impression that relationship selling is a thing of the past! They promote the idea that old school sales execs that relay on their relationships to sell are a dying breed.
First of all, the last time I checked people buy from people. Therefore relationships DO matter. The real question becomes to what degree and in what sales environment are we talking about. For example at UST our focus is on CAREER minded sales execs that work in a corporate business to business environment. We do not focus on sales environments where the sales rep has one chance only to close the sale. In this case a sales rep would not have the necessary time or energy to develop much of a relationship. They are simply looking for any opportunity to close the sale because if the prospect leaves the chances of getting the sale are slim to none.
However in the corporate sales environment in which we operate, establishing some sort of an initial business relationship should always be the first step in the sales process. Without it, all of your knowledge, experience and potential problem-solving solution will never come to fruition. The reason is your prospect has to truly listen and digest your potential ground-breaking proposal for it to be considered. In order for him to legitimately consider your offer there needs to be a level of trust and respect for you as the sales exec. And this initial level of trust can not be achieved without spending the necessary time to establish at least a basic business relationship. In essence he needs to feel you have a grasp on his business issues and have a genuine desire to advance a proposal that addresses them. The best way to gain this respect is to take the necessary time to listen and not simply talk about your product or service. The quality of your listening followed by specific questions will go a long way in terms of building a solid business relationship. Additionally, and equally important you will gain the necessary knowledge that will help you prepare a compelling proposal. It is therefore logical that building this business relationship will not happen with one sales call. This is a process that happens over time and is particularly important with products or services that are core to the prospects success.
Contrarily, you could have a strong business relationship with the client and it doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t have a compelling proposal. No executive worth his or her salt is going to agree to do business simply because of a relationship. In the world of IT sales in which I lived; CIO’s are not going to do business with you unless you have the best proposal. Period. The relationship gets you up to the plate. It doesn’t guarantee you a base hit. Mission critical decisions that are millions of dollars are not made because the decision maker has a 10 year personal relationship with the sales rep. There is certainly a component of the sale that involves a level of confidence in the sales exec. An executive wants to feel comfortable knowing that the sales exec will deliver on his or her promises. They will be available if something goes astray. Doing business with a particular sales exec that has escalated his or her value to more of a “trusted advisor” position will certainly give the rep the best advantage possible in terms of winning new business. However, you still need to advance a compelling proposal.
If you haven’t taken the time to establish the most basic business relationship, then chances are you will not even get up to the plate. And if you don’t get up to the plate you have no chance of getting a hit, let alone a home run. So the bottom line is —-RELATIONSHIPS MATTER!
Read chapter 10 to learn more. This is a critical point to understand and digest. This is a key component of “Universal Sales Truths”. Some things never change. Don’t ever forget it.