It’s a myth that the main reason for having better customer relationships is to sell more products. Yes, that’s often the outcome, but it’s a byproduct rather than the main point. The primary reason to have better customer relationships is to make selling a heck of a lot more fun.

Yesterday I had a long conversation with a close friend, who worked in sales for years and will soon reenter the workplace. She’s not happy about getting back into Sales because, as she put it, “I don’t enjoy always having a hidden agenda in my relationships.” I told her that, if you’re working in sales, your agenda is not hidden. Whats more that’s the exact backwards way to think about relationships.

Sales is fun because you create new relationships. The fact that those relationships have a business component is a plus, not a minus.

If you have the right attitude, being in Sales is a perfect excuse to spend time with people you like and who like you in return. (i.e. your loyal customers.) If you’re a “people person” (and you’d better learn to be if you’re in sales), then building better relationships is the fun part of the job. Because talking with people and learning about their lives is inherently interesting and fun.

The only condition is that you have to be certain, in your heart of hearts, that your goal in building a relationship isn’t just about closing a sale. While you may end up helping that person to buy as the result of the business relationship, helping is part of the relationship, and not the entire relationship.

When I learnt the above about customer relationships, it was a real “light bulb” moment for me, and it’s made a huge difference in my attitude about being in business.

If your team are finding selling tough, unsuccesful or it has become something you avoid then call Brian Campbell at Management Coach to plug into a new approach.