Sales Laundry

Q&A’s are excerpts of questions I have answered as part of Sales Laundry or other forums that I am apart of.  If there is a relevant sales message for the masses I post it here to share, gather feedback and discuss.

Q:  How important are relationships in selling? Are they the only reason people buy, a prerequisite or not that big of a deal?  I understand that some customer’s do make a buying decision in our favor, but is it the 80/20 rule or relationships?

A:  A relationship could be critical to your success or of absolutely no value.  In my opinion it depends on where the customer places value in a given situation.

For example, I have bought products from sales professionals that brought a lot of knowledge I valued, but did not like them or care to see them again.  The value of their knowledge drove the transaction, not the relationship.

 I have bought products from sales professionals that I had a great relationship with where the product was average to not as good, in retrospect, I suppose because I placed more value on extending the relationship than I did the product.

 I have also bought products that I was enamored with and placed so much value in having that I bought them regardless of the sales process/relationship or the professional.

 So, speaking just for myself, a strong enough desire for the product, or the value I place in that product, can render a relationship unimportant to me.  (Unless I think I am going to need support or handholding to get the full value out of the product.)

 Otherwise, the importance I place on a relationship is directly proportional to my perceived need for that relationship in finding, acquiring and implementing the end product or service.

 Hope that makes sense.  It makes my head hurt just thinking about it.