Is sales always about closing? You can answer this question in so many different ways. At Spectrum Coach, the way we like to answer this questions is understanding what it takes to close a sale.
If you remove the pressure of closing a sale and hitting monthly targets and focus on building relationships, then a sale is really about how relationships are created and developed.
When Spectrum Coach Principal Fred started the journey with Spectrum Coach, he had to go out and sell his himself to potential clients. He didn’t have a tangible product that a client could see, so he had to sell his years of experience, thus building relationships which he has had to maintain.
Fred always walks into meetings with the prospect of showing a client what he can do for them by giving them free advice on how they should sell, rather than talking about what he can offer them.
A while ago Fred wrote about ‘The Importance of Relationship Building When Starting A New Business’, and to sum it up it stated that the importance of relationships in sales is just as important, if not the only thing you will need to worry about when selling.
If you don’t have a relationship with your clients, they will not buy from you, it’s as simple as that.
When Fred was trying to sell his business, he genuinely wanted to get to know his potential clients, what their motivators are and why they do what they do.
It’s always great to listen to someone’s story, not because it will lead to a sale but because it helps you understand how important you are to them and why they are sitting in front of you.
The close will always come in the end, and people will buy off people they trust. However the only way to gain trust is by building a relationship.
Fred can honestly say he has a strong relationship with all of his clients, which is priority number one!