Positive Thinking and the Sales Relationship

I have spent many years developing leadership and sales skills. Here is a short letter I wrote to a colleague who was trying to motivate their sales team with little luck.

I have a plethora of experience with sales as well as motivating a team of sales people to do their utmost. I take the relationship with customers very seriously, and consider the sales process to be one that is rife with opportunities. A relationship with your customers should be sacred in the fact that one should feel that they are providing a vital service to the customer; customer service should always be first during the sales process.

Knowing how to sell and knowing when and where to sell are often things that people do not take into account when they are developing their sales relationship. A good sales person doesn't just know how to sell; they know when, where and what to sell their customer because they have taken the time to review their customers needs as well as listen to what their customer has to say. Just selling does no good. You must fill the customers needs and continue to fill their needs. This means understanding the customer from the ground up, listening thoroughly to what they say, and to what they don't say, and filling in the blanks with experience and with knowledge of what the customer actually needs based upon the development of the relationship you've developed.

Often in life we go about our affairs with a one track mind. We don’t take into account that everything we do affects others, only what our ultimate goal is. We should, in a sales relationship, realize that we are not just meeting our needs, but that our customer has trusted us with their time and money and expects to get what they really need. To do anything less for the customer dishonors our relationship with them and ultimately lands us in a position where the customer will go and find someone else to take those needs on.