Relationship Selling
If I was to ask you “who are your strongest relationships?”, you will automatically think your family, friends and loved ones. These are probably not the people that would buy from you. They have invested time, effort in you for a prolonged period of time and know you on a deep personal level. They know your inner thoughts and have seen your faults.
They will tell you what you want to hear or bend (lie) the truth in order to protect you, as you would them. As we have seen, all these people going on the X-factor. Who have been told by their friends and family they are brilliant. Who in fact, are average at best!
For me a professional relationship with a client is:
> Communicate openly
> Ber inquisitive
> Never over promise
> Always deliver what you have promised
> Always communicate all the information so that your client can make informed decisions.
> If a problem occurs communicate accordingly (bad news travels well fast)
> Genuinely care about your brand and the people associated with it.
So what do these two words mean?
Relationship (noun)
The way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected.
“the study will assess the relationship between unemployment and political attitudes”
synonyms: connection, relation, association, link, correlation, correspondence, parallel, tie-in, tie-up, alliance, bond, interrelation, interconnection;
interdependence of
“the relationship between diet and diabetes”
the state of being connected by blood or marriage.
“they can trace their relationship to a common ancestor”
synonyms:family ties, family connections, blood relationship, blood ties, kinship, affinity, consanguinity, common ancestry, common lineage, connection;
Sale (noun)
plural noun: sales
The exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something.
“we withdrew it from sale”
synonyms:selling, vending, disposal; More
antonyms:purchase
A quantity or amount sold.
“price cuts failed to boost sales”
the activity or business of selling products.
“director of sales and marketing”
a period during which a shop sells goods at reduced prices.
“the January sales got under way this week”
synonyms: deal, transaction, bargain, disposal
“they chalk up a sale every two seconds”
a public or charitable event at which goods are sold or auctioned.
“a bric-a-brac sale will be held at St Cuthbert’s Church Centre”
Sell (verb)
Gerund or present participle: selling
give or hand over (something) in exchange for money.
“they had sold the car”
synonyms:dispose of, get rid of, vend, auction (off); More
antonyms: buy
have a stock of (something) available for sale.
“the store sells hi-fis, TVs, videos, and other electrical goods”
synonyms:trade in, deal in, be in the business of, traffic in, stock, carry, offer for sale, handle, peddle, hawk, retail, market, advertise, promote
“he sells fruit and vegetables”
be purchased in specified amounts or for a specified price.
“the album sold 6 million copies in the United States”
synonyms:be bought, be purchased,
Relationship selling
Referring to a sales technique that focuses on the interaction between the buyer and seller, rather than the price or details of the product.
Have a look at these links;
Dale Carnegie has introduced a new sales training program which focuses on relationship selling. Our founder understood…blog.dalecarnegie.com
After you’ve looked at these definitions, I’m sure you have all interrupted “Relationship selling” in different ways.
As for me it is the same! Whose version is right? There are many blog posts, podcasts and books on this topic.
What are the common themes within all this slightly different views, they are the 5 C’s
> Connect
> Collaborate
> Create
> Confirm/Commit
> Complete
What do I believe makes a relationship sale (in no particular order)
> Build rapport as quickly as possible
> Treat your client as an Individual not as just another mark you are going to take down (like a lot of direct sales people do)
> Find common ground
> Be respectful
> Be credible and add value at every stage
> Be objective and consultative
> Be humble
> Be able to receive, give critique and feedback objectively
> Embody your brand as if it was only you
> Care about what you are selling or delivering, and the client and their customers/users
>Be honest and transparent
> Have the courage to say NO to your client
> Be one of their “go to” people
> Never pitch without knowing all the facts/problems. Put yourself in your client’s shoes
Try these techniques, next time you are in front of your client, and see if the sales come in.
If they do, then make sure you continuously communicate through the process, even over-communicate and meet regularly with “no agenda” apart from building the relationship.
When you deliver on what you have said you were going to because you were honest, watch them keep coming back to you to do business. This is a true relationship sale.
If they come to you for their next project without you touting for business, this is because they value you and your company. If you move on or move up the ladder and that client keeps coming back to do business, then they have bought into the company through you.