This Power Training module is based on an interview with Jerry Acuff, president of Delta Leadership Group, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based consultancy that helps companies find new ways to market products.  He’s also the author of The Relationship Edge in Business: Connecting with Customers and Colleagues when It Counts (Wiley, 2004).  He can be reached at Delta Point, Inc., 12196 East Sand Hills Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85255. Tel: 480/342-7113 Web:www.gottochange.com

Most sales managers think a business relationship is the same as a friendship. However, it’s quite common for a sales rep to be friends with a customer and still not get any business. The reason is simple: business relationships are deeper than friendships because they involve a deeper level of trust. When you have a business relationship, you trust that individual with your career and your reputation… and they trust you. A customer relationship means that the customer gives you access when you want it, listens to what you say in an unbiased way, and makes an unbiased decision based upon your mutual best interests. Customer relationships are built and strengthened though a five step process:

Step One: Decide that you want to have more fun in your job

Traditional wisdom says that the purpose of having better customer relationships is to sell more products to those customers. However, while higher sales figures are a natural byproduct of better customer relationships, the real reason to have better customer relationships is to make the job of selling more fun and fulfilling. Think about it this way: wouldn’t you rather be spending time with people whom you like, and who like you in return, than trying to manipulate people into buying things that they may not want or need? Talking with people, and learning about their lives, is inherently interesting and fun, provided your goal in building a relationship isn’t self-serving. In that context, selling is merely a way of helping the person with whom you have a good business relationship, rather than an end in itself.

Step Two: Be someone who attracts good customer relationships

Customers choose to have relationships with sales reps who exhibit four key attributes:

Professionalism. There’s a huge difference between professionals and amateurs. People want to do business with individuals who are serious about what they do, and who are willing to take the time to achieve a deep understanding of their craft. A good way to increase your level of professionalism is to read the trade journals for your industry, especially publications like Selling Power that hone your business skills.

Integrity. Integrity is being as good as your word. If you say you’re going to do something, then your customer knows it will be done. Integrity is also exhibited when you’re willing to take a stand, even when it’s unpopular with your customer or your company. That does not mean being adversarial, but rather having the ability to make decisions based upon what you know is right.

Caring. People value relationships with people who care about them. However, while most people know how to exhibit this attribute in their personal lives, business culture in the United States does not always provide the same opportunities. A good way to show that you care about a customer is to listen, really listen, to what the customer has to say.

Knowledge. People respect people who have some kind of unique knowledge. This doesn’t mean that you have to become an expert on every product or service that you sell, but it does mean that you have knowledge that is of value to the customer.

Step Three: Align your thoughts and behaviors to reliably generate trust

Who you are is only half of the equation. Your ability to build customer relationships will also depend upon your thought processes about yourself, about your customers and about the process of selling. Ideally you want all three of these aligned and congruent. Here’s how:

Integrate the right mind-set. If you want people around you to value having a relationship with you, you must truly believe that relationship building is important. You must also believe that you honestly have something of value to offer.

Get curious about people. People are drawn to those who show true interest in them. Curiosity about people is thus a crucial element of relationship building. Having an abiding fascination in others gives you the opportunity to learn new things and make new connections.

Be reliable in your actions. A customer’s ability to trust you, and thus be willing to have a relationship with you, is dependent upon showing the customer that your behavior is consistent and persistent over time. When a customer can predict your behavior, that customer is more likely to invest you with trust.

Step Four: Approach meetings as relationship-building opportunities

Every customer meeting is an opportunity to build or strengthen the relationship, providing you remember that the messenger (who you are) is much more important than the message (what you have to say). In fact, far from being a “sales pitch,” a customer meeting should be a quest to come up with ways that you and the customer can help each other to become more successful. To do this, you must follow the following three touchstones:

Seek the truth. You want to find out if you really have something that can help the customer. To do this, the meeting must be a quest to discover the real areas where the two of you can work together. Quick tip: your customer knows that you’re telling the truth when you’re not afraid to say something negative (but true) about your product or company.

Keep an open mind. When you walk into a customer meeting absolutely convinced that the customer needs your product or service, the customer will sense you’re close-minded and become close-minded in return. If, by contrast, you’re open to the idea that the customer might be better served elsewhere, the customer will sense that you’ve got his or her best interests at heart and will be more likely to listen to what you have to say.

Have a real dialog. A customer meeting should be a conversation, not a mere sales call. This means that you should be listening to the customer at least half of the time that’s spent at the meeting. Furthermore, the dialog should be substantive and about real business issues, not just office patter or chit-chat about sports.

Step Five: Maintain and deepen relationships with inexpensive, thoughtful acts

A good way to show that you care about people is to notice their interests and then find small ways to make them happy. For example, suppose your best customer is a big Notre Dame football fan. You might call up the local newspaper in South Bend (where the college is located) and arrange to have the Sunday sports section sent to that customer each week. In some cases, a simple telephone call when you’re in the area – even if you don’t have time to visit that customer – is enough. The key concept here is “inexpensive.” You want to show that you care, not make the customer feel obligated to buy. – Geoffrey James