If you've
held a sales position for long then you've seen them operate. You know, the
super smooth sales associate that appears to have people walk in or call daily
and ask for him or her. You might be just that person. For some this comes
naturally and for others it takes a systematic approach to achieve this level
of success.
In the early
days of my career path I held several sales positions. I never considered
myself a great sales person, but I did pretty good at some and just okay at
others. One thing that I did learn is that the great sales professionals always
viewed the process differently. Whether they'd like to admit it or not the
typical sales professional views sales on a transactional basis. It goes
something like this: You, the customer, have a need. I, the sales person, have
a product or service to meet that need. I give you the solution and you give me
money in exchange. A simple transaction, nothing more. The great sales
professionals are always those individuals that view the process as relational
in nature and not a one off transaction.
I once knew a
car salesman that built such strong relationships and trust with his customers
that they followed him from dealership to dealership. This was truly amazing to
me since his customers were typically middle-aged or older farmers that were
brand loyal for all of their adult lives. In the years that I knew him he went
from a Dodge dealership to Ford and then finally purchased his own Buick/GMC
dealership. In all his changing of brands his customers would simply switch
brands due to their loyalty to him. They weren't buying the auto brand as much
as they were buying him. They trusted him because he realized that to be
successful he had to build a relationship with each and every customer. It
wasn't about this transaction. It was about the next one and the next one after
that. It was about them putting their reputation on the line when they
recommended him to their friends and family members.
It was all
about the relationship he nurtured whether he sold them a car or not. He was
there for them and they knew it and his success proved it. This came so natural
to him that it made me sick. I realized that to have the same success I needed
to develop a system that worked for me. Where he could just "go with the
flow" I had to be more methodical and focused to get the same results.
Neither approach to the sales process is right or wrong, but one thing was very
evident. If I wanted to have his success I too had to stop viewing the sales as
a transaction and put a system in place to develop and nurture those
relationships.
Mat Maynor
Mat is
co-founder and chief strategy guy of Big Vision Media Group. He has nearly 20 of experience developing
marketing strategies for companies ranging from Fortune 50 to start-ups. Connect with Mat on twitter @thinkstrategy and Facebook.
