Relationships & Sales - Fallacy & Myth

So much has been written about Relationship & Sales in the context of Customer.

And, there is an intriguing association built between them, in an almost intelligent-sounding way!

I am surprised at how we have accepted this inference without subjecting it to a simple test of validity in the usage.

Firstly, Relationships are not like a menu item obtained by clicking on a drop-down menu and is not served at a QSR… (you could perhaps try subscribing to it by calling a 1-800 number and getting your first installment of relationship by mail-order!).

Extending hospitality & cordiality is not to be confused with Relationship, unless you have nothing else to relate with!

If you think having coffee & gifting mugs will earn relationships, it could serve well for you to become a waiter. Much emphasis is placed on knowing the customer’s favourite restaurant, dog's name or their holiday destination… You would be seriously hallucinating if that amounted to Relationships! Simply because, there are plenty of bots in town which are recording all of that for no good reason to customer other than helping the marketeer send more mailers or popups!

If it were to work, will we see apps & teams for Customer Faith Management (CFM) or Customer Love Management (CLM)? So, go figure.

The buyer has lot more information, lot more options, lot more needs to fulfil and a good lot of governance to catchup, with a multitude of procurement possibilities!

All of us are chasing the buyers and everyone is eager to make a business (any sale will do, actually. Thank you very much). All of us are smart & using technologies/methodologies to make that reach with a messaging! All of us are also using the well established marketing agencies & proliferant online media to put out the loud content. Read that again. If you dont get the message - get back to basics and ask yourself - where is your money going?

How do you expect salespersons to 'build the relationship’ and, if you indeed do – What would it be? What could you expect from it? How much time-effort & monies would you want to invest into it?

Would you rather that the relationship is with the business, its offerings and the experience which gets built around it? Or, is it something you expect to happen with the Salesperson? (this last point is a nice test!)

You wouldn’t want Salespersons to lose their effectiveness when they use actual Relationships and you also don’t want to lose the Relationships with moving Salespersons. Hint - if Salespersons can be bought to make Relationships, you can be certain that it can move away from you too when someone else buys that equity!

Customer affinity, sensitivity, awareness-building & purpose driven communication (messaging, positioning & proposition) through all the means of prospective connects are a part of Relationship development - beyond mere CCM - contact management (defined by using CRM application tools & messaging/communication through multiple media) & collection management (sending automated mailers with individual named attachments and notification for payments).

Question : Does Sales follow such efforts of Relationship development or is it the beginning of a Relationship itself?

info@SBSdimensionS.com

Sanjaya Hasthak.

(High-Vale Sales Engine Design & Execution Performance Support for real estate developers)

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