I am a passionate advocate of the relationship first, consultative oriented growth philosophy.  In educating others on what that really means, I have discovered a sense of discomfort in the deliberate process I follow to authentically build relationships.  

The objective of my relationship building process is quite simple:

Learn and understand what others need, want, and desire in their world.  Know and internalize the importance and value of those issues.  Be the trusted advisor that helps them discover solutions to these problems.

I was asked to comment on the following the other day as it relates to this relationship building mantra: “I see no reason why the relationship road can’t lead to short-term results. It’s not because you’re building relations and go for the consultative approach that you should put off closing the deal.  I would like to hear your thoughts on this.”

More than anything else, I am rarely in a mindset where I am looking to “close a deal.”  This is the mentality that gets too many salespeople in trouble.  We need to be committed to providing real solutions, to real problems, with a product, service, or resource that meets your clients needs — not close a deal.

Once I have built trust, established credibility, have learned enough to clearly understand this issue in its complete context as it relates solely to the client — only then am I in a position to share with them ideas that I have that may be of value to them. 

There is no “close” in my process — only a presentation of a valuable and productive solution for my future clients.  Closing a deal implies that I am attempting to get someone to do something.  When I provide them what they are really looking for – a result of my investing in listening, learning and understanding about that need — they will take the action necessary to move the sales process to the next step.  The reason this occures is because it is what they want and need, not what I desire or expect them to want and need that converts this relationship into buyer relationship.

It may seem to take a little longer to get a new customer in the true relationship building, trusted resource process because too many sales professionals have not yet discovered the power of doing this well.  Learning this behavior, like any change, takes time and practice before proficiency.  Once learned, the relationship oriented model is highly efficient.  It requires one key component– the willingness to be authentically selfless.  A personality trait few old school sales pros struggle with.  Hence, the desire to go for the close, instead of going for the trusted advisor role. 

Great results require a focused investment in time and effort.  The short vs. long-term view always concerns me.  There is only one path to productive growth — learn the right skills, the right way and become proficient at it.  There are no shortcuts to that.

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While the end is not always visible on the relationship road, it is the most productive way to growing your business.

The transactional road provides a direct route to the outcome, but the journey is more difficult than your realize.

Believe it or not, you cannot effectively do both.  Either you are trying to figure out how transactionally boost your sales — chasing revenue; or, you are systematically establishing credibility and becoming a trusted resource — building relationships.

Far too many business leaders and poorly trained or old-school sales professionals fail to understand the real obstacles of transactionally related sales behaviors.  I offer the pictoral images to illustrate the benefits and challenges of the transactional approach vs. the relationship approach.  Why most people avoid the relationship approach is that they really do not know how to effectively and productively navigate this road.  However, once you know how to navigate this road, there is no more effective and beneficial way to get there.

Old school salespeople love the adventure of the transactional approach.  They love to get there and overcome all the challenges along the way.  Unfortunately, few of their customers enjoy or engage in this approach these days.  It may be immediately gratifying, it is neither sustainable or productive over the long haul.

The solution is to provide your sales team with an effective education — not a training program — on manuevering effectively along the relationship road.  There results will be more predictable, repeatable, and valuable to the organization that the reckless transactional ones.

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From the mail room, I received this email from a sales student who is feeling abused by their sales manager. 

Last year my company fired a sales rep in a connecting territory.  After they terminated this individual, my manager asked me to cover the existing accounts and do some business development in the region.  Being the team player I am, I agreed to help out.  The work essentially doubled the size of my territory.  While I didn’t do much new business, I did a great job of stabilizing the existing relationships of the twenty accounts in the territory.  One year later, my manager informs me that they have hired a new rep in the area.  They are taking those accounts back and would like my assistance in the training and transitioning of this business.  I am a little disappointed in how this was handled.  What are your thoughts? ~ J.C. Hartford, CT

1. Clearly communicate expectations: This salesperson took on an added burden at the request of her manager.  At no point did her manager articulate what was going to be expected of them in future or how long this arrangement was going to go on.  A great sales manager would have clarified the situation, defined the expectations, and articulated the time frame for this territorial change.  If there was no plan in the first place, then the sales manager has an obligation to develop and define one with the sales rep before putting them in the territory.
2. Recognize and compensate for exceptional performance: This commitment doubled the geographic territory, increased the workload of the sales rep, there was little upside commission, and saved the company money.  Where’s the appreciation and the gratitude.  Kudos to the sales rep for not asking “what’s in it for me?”; but, shame on the manager and the company for not showing gratitude for the effort and the commitment.  Technically covering open territories are the sales manager’s problem; so this sales rep did the manager a big favor, as well.
3. Test your plan before you execute it: This manager simply made a move to eliminate a position and, without much other consideration, simply plugged another sales rep in to cover the territory.  This was likely not a very well thought out plan.  It would have been a much better situation for all if the manager had developed their strategy, shared it, created some incentives for the parties involved, and then put it into play.  Instead, this manager simply made his moves without a lot of consideration for its impact on those involved.  Not my style of management.

Sales management is more strategic, thoughtful, and organized than simply moving people around.  This was simply an example of bad sale management.  I would love the opportunity to share this experience with the offending party to, hopefully, avoid a repeat of these mistakes.

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While I have been actively blogging for the better part of four years, I slowed down on my content development because I was working on fine tuning my blog strategy.  With two blog sites, I had the desire to consolidate them ino one. Every time I thought about the task, I had a great deal giving one of them up.  The decision I came to regarding these blogs is that I will keep them both.  What I need to do is have a better definition and voice for each of these blogs.  That is what I have done. 

The purpose of this post is to introduce the purpose and intent of each blog site; and, allow you to decide which provides you the most interesting source of information and interaction.  Of course, I would be thrilled if you followed and were engaged in both.  However, as good as my content is in providing insight, information, and initiating thought, even I know you probably have a limited amount of free reading and interaction time. 

SalesCooke:  The original blog in my “empire.”  This blog features thoughts, ideas, concepts, strategies, and commentary on all things sales.  Topics range from sales strategy, sales training, sales tactics, sales concepts and sales behaviors.  I am a passionate advocate of relationship oriented, solutions based selling behaviors.  Sales Cooke brings these philosophies to life.  I will submitting a written post on a weekly basis.  I will also be providing links to a series of Podcasts that I have developed with a local sales superstar here in Phoenix, Chris Conrey. (Connect with SalesCooke)

SustainableRevenues: As passionate as I am about effective relationship development behaviors in sales, I am even more passionate about positioning organizations for sustainable growth.  All to often businesses over emphasize the importance of new customer sales as a key to building a business.  While this is and continues to be an integral component of business growth, real and sustainable growth occurs when a business leverages its relationships–team, customer, suppliers, ownership–in a strategically focused manner to retain and expand the ones it already has.  I have developed a formula that emphasizes revenue expansion with an organization commitment to growth; not a departmental mindset toward sales.  This weekly blog will focus on customer engagement, culture, communication, employee development and leadership strategies, behaviors and concepts that will put a business in an organizational growth program.  I will also introduce several experts as guest bloggers to contribute their powerful experiences and insights. (Connect with Sustainable Revenues)

Two blogs.  Two opportunities to engage and interact.  I look forward to your comments, feeback, ideas, and questions.

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Simply sending your sales team through a one-day training program is like running your car through a car wash — the minute they hit the streets, they get dirty again!  Sales training is not a one-day magic bullet.  Changing, improving, interrupting, enhancing, or facilitating better sales behaviors requires a commitment to education, development and strategy.  Without a concerted commitment, a sales training program is merely an exercise that will not get the results desired.

The process for truly changing and improving sales results is systematic, ongoing, and very strategic:

1. Assess the current strategy: Understand what is working, not working, where the challenges are and where opportunities exist for improvement.  This is not simply an assessment of the team, it is an information gathering exercise on the strategy, the product offering, the team and of customer experience.  This provides the foundation for improving the strategy and building a sales education curriculum for the program.
2. Develop an improved program: Armed with powerful feedback from existing customers, valuable information from the market, insightful knowledge from the entire organizational team, and a thorough evaluation of the sales team, the business is poised to develop and implement an improved sales program that includes a well-defined educational curriculum.
3. Educate and inspire the team:  The information and the strategy are encapsulated into an educational curriculum focused beyond the conversations and behaviors offered in a typical training program.  This process provides insights into the strategy, the process, the tools, and the tactics that will actually improve performance and results.

Make a commitment to educating your team on the entire process of revenue growth.  Accomplishing this requires a thoughtful, ongoing process that yields significant results. You would not expect your golf game to improve with only one visit to the swing coach or your health to improve with one visit to your personal trainer?  Why would you expect your revenues to improve with a single visit to a sales training show.  Make a commitment to your team and to improving results through a focused strategy and eduction program.  You will be glad you did!

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If  your sales are off and they are not where they need to be, who would you expect would be the best resource for this issue?  Correct, your local sales strategist.  What I have observed is that the sales strategist is often called in last, not first.  A curious phenomenon.  What is happening?

• You bring in your marketing expert to rework your logo and website…

Did your sales go up?

• You bring in your branding expert to reposition your brand and your story…

Did your sales go up?

• You bring in your social media “expert” to engage your business on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the like…

Did your sales go up?

• You hire a business coach to focus on your management and leadership strategies…

Did your sales go up?

• You brought in a sales trainer for an afternoon to refocus your sales team…

Did your sales go up?

What were your answers to these questions.  If the answers were “I am not sure”, that is a “no”.  If you did not answer “yes” to whatever question(s) applied to your approach, it is time to do the smart thing and call in the sales expert–a  sales strategy and employment development professional.

These are tough times for businesses.  Customers are not really looking to spend money, the decision making process is slow, the selling cycle is longer, finding and connecting with prospects is harder, and positioning the value of your business is difficult.

Growing your sales requires the support and experience of a professional who understands what you and your business and your team are going through.  Reach out to a trusted selling professional — I look forward to your call. (586.201.9057)

Dave Cooke is CEO of Strategic Resource Group, llc an organization specializing in helping businesses increase their revenues through effective sales strategies, growth initiatives and employee development programs. His contributions and insights can be found on his blog posts, SalesCooke and Sustainable Revenues.  He has also developed a new program for sustainable revenues in a down economy, known as SuRF.  To download this case study go to: SurfWhitePaper.com.

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