Relationship selling isn’t dead; it has simply evolved. Today's successful business relationships go beyond the superficial... Discover how to move beyond old-school tactics to build lasting, impactful business rapport.
For more strategies like this, check out my sales tip video library on YouTube...
Don't let anyone tell you the relationship is dead. I know that there was a trend going around for a few years where so-called experts wanted to say, oh, relationship selling is dead. It's not actually true at all, and they themselves wouldn't have believed it even when questioned.
Here’s what is dead: the good old boy, I went to school with you... let's go out for drinks...let's take you for a coffee...here's some baseball tickets, kind of superficial relationship.
What isn't dead is the relationship that allows me to say, you know, I care enough about you and your business, that I've got some new ideas that I think are going to help you be better. It's the relationship that says, I know this might be uncomfortable, but I see some things that really could be fixed in order to optimize your business practices. Can we talk about that? It's the relationship that says, you know, I think what would benefit us all the most is if we invited A, B and C person to the meeting. Can we facilitate that?
When you have a comfortable and deep enough relationship with the customer that you're willing to make them feel uncomfortable by maybe asking for additional relationship, teaching them something new that maybe they didn't know, or pushing them to think differently about a challenge that they might be facing. Then you have a deep and highly valuable business relationship, and that kind of corporate rapport or business rapport is the type of relationship you should be striving for with every single one of your stakeholders.
Don't forget to check out: Stop Checking-In with Clients!