Sales Relationships Still Matter The Most
The most important element for your success in sales or success in your career are your sales relationships. Even transactional sales may be conditioned, or not, by the relationship.
People Influence Sales
When you ask a friend about a new barber or hair stylist you’re really asking about their brand. Are they reputable, will they do a good job, or will they botch me up?
The barber with no reputation is a barber of high risk.
Barbers often build relationships with the customer. Those relationships mean that not only is the customer a living example, they also are able to influences future sales.
A haircut is really not a transactional sale. It is a consultative sale. When you treat it like a transaction you limit the possibility for future sales. In other words, “I can get my haircut anywhere.”
This logic still matters across nearly every platform.
Amazon is a close example to transactional selling. You browse the website and place an order for a commodity product. Done.
Yet there is still a service side. How will it be packed, shipped, and delivered. Does a relationship still exist? In some ways, yes.
Sales Relationships
Today even face-to-face selling is different. You spec your new car on-line first, you check out the restaurant menu on-line, or you search the web for customer reviews.
The relationship still matters for many. It especially matters for consultative selling.
You may not always have to be face-to-face, in fact, in some cases perhaps not at all. Yet, being considered for, or earning the sale will often have to do with what someone else has to say.
Build stronger sales relationships, it may be how you earn your living, or how you get the promotion.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
