What kind of relationship?

II/Her e rp,nxl Almost everyY Y where I go, people warn me about John (or Susan or...). "Yeah he sells a lot, but what a jerk! He's always blah, blah, blah about an order he got that shipped late or. "

What I find is John is the guy who holds the whole company to a higher standard than anyone else in the organization. If invoicing is not done correctly or efficiently, John gets on invoicing. If the truck ships one day late, John is on the shipping department. "Why can't we ship one day early?" John asks incessantly. If John thinks you should get on the phone and quit complaining, he says so. If John thinks management is making a(nother) mistake, he marches into the big man's office and tells him.

If John is such a bad guy, why do his customers love him?

I do field work with salespeople. We will drive by a place of business, they will say, "We don't want to go in there, that guy's a jerk." "Pull over!" I say. When we meet the customer, he is usually no-nonsense and has a very clear idea of what he wants. And he runs a company that is doing great business. Who is selling these guys anyway? The Johns and Susans of the world, that's who. Definitions are funny, huh?

Only the top lOVo are demanding excellence. They do stand out. Dealing with them is exacting, which can be demanding, but in the end they are just asking that it-the sale, the shipment, the invoice, the product, the commitment-be done the way it is supposed to be done, more if possible. The top llVo prefers an edge, but never less! Remember, the top l07o stands out on the sales side, too. Game recognizes game.

Poor Relationship Strategy

Sellers who underachieve have the following strategy:

"I will be as nice as possible, so my customers will like me best, and then they will buy from me." These sellers insult their customers, their competition, and themselves, and suffer for it.

Who marries the yes-man or yes-woman? No one (except my wife). Why? Because "I don't know, whatever you want to do" is boring. Standing up for ourselves (being disagreeable) is part of being likeable, for crying out loud! We must understand the difference between likeable and agreeable. Everyone likes someone with spunk.

Master sellers hold themselves to the standard of being direct-asking for the business in everything they say and do, being assumptive ("Mr. customer, we are going to do business together") with every customer, on every call, and doing it in a nice way.

It does take skill to negotiate, haggle, cajole and demand things from customers in a way that leaves the relationship intact. That is the master seller skill set.

Contrary to what struggling sellers have convinced themselves, we can be nice, ask for, and get what we want.

Early Relationship Moment

How master sellers and struggling sellers handle obfuscation from customers determines their relationship fate with all customers, for life.

Example:

Us: "How much of that product do you use per month?'

Customer: "A fair amount."

The master seller repeats the question, while the struggling seller lets it go. (See underachievement strategy).

The master seller sends the message "When I ask a question, I expect an answer." The delivery of the message can be subtle:

Us: "Well... (Silence, pondering) I know you can't tell me exactly, but... (respectful waiting) could you give me a ball-park idea?"

This kind of response, delivered in a nice way, with a smile, conveys that we are a serious person. Customers will respect us,like us, and will not side-step us at closing.

When we let customers wriggle away from any of our questions, we become accomplices in our own demise. We impair closing and the relationship in general.

We are in charge of the kinds of # relationships we build with customers. We must be conscious of t the little things we do every day on every call that build the kind of relationships that work for us.

(Note to John and Susan: try some salesmanship on the inside also. It works.)

James Olsen Reality Sales Training (503) 544-3s72

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