Realationships

No, it's not a typo - Ask yourself how Real are your Relationships?

As I go through some significant changes in my personal life and the many relationships that have been affected as a result, I took to writing and today is the first of what I intend to be a weekly post sharing what I've learnt over my 45 years in Relationship Based Sales. Feel free to apply to your professional or personal lives or indeed both.

Have you ever categorized or graded your relationations? Remember when you first got into sales and someone with more wisdom told you about that pyramid where 80% of your sales are going to come from 20% of your customers, well take time to look at your relationships the same way. Who do you have meaningful connections to, who is purely transactional and who is just a routine call in case one day they buy? Starting with those in the 20%, what do you really know about them, what do they know about you, what level are you connected on??How many times have you seen or heard that the secret to a successful relationship is 'that' connection. A quarterback and a wide receiver, a pro and a caddy, all those couples at the end of 'When Harry Met Sally', you can't quite put your finger on it but you know it's there. In any sales relationship, there is always a connection, always. What connects you is different of course but there's something that brings all parties to that comfortable place. It could be how you present yourself, always being early for the meeting, great service, even being an alum from the same school and so on but my point is look for that connection to launch your relationship to a realationship (still not a typo!).