An obstacle for anyone who focuses on relationships is the reluctance to take advantage. There is a great investment in building a relationship.
Get Instant Access to This Article
Subscribe to Hartford Business Journal and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Hartford and Connecticut business news updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Bi-weekly print or digital editions of our award-winning publication.
- Special bonus issues like the Hartford Book of Lists.
- Exclusive ticket prize draws for our in-person events.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
An obstacle for anyone who focuses on relationships is the reluctance to take advantage. There is a great investment in building a relationship. There is trust built over time. Capitalizing on a relationship for a deal can feel as if you're tarnishing the relationship. It can feel as if you are taking advantage of the trust that someone places in you.
If you approach relationships from a selling perspective, this can often be the case. So, to identify opportunities to generate revenue from good relationships, think about the “Family Member Standard.”
At the intersection of relationships and sales, I always advise salespeople to think about a family member, a sibling or parent who you really care about and are close to. Would you feel good presenting the deal to the family member if the family member were in the same situation as the customer?
If the answer is no, reconsider what you are presenting. In a strong relationship generosity is the key, and helping the other person needs to be the mindset.
When selfish motives take hold, the ability to trust someone can be put on hold, and in some instances, take a hit. The motivation for a deal has to emanate from a desire to be generous and to help.
To get to this point requires an understanding of what the customer is dealing with — what are the challenges and concerns? As any great communicator will tell you, seek first to understand.
Once you know what the other person is experiencing and what is motivating them, you can then contribute value. Otherwise, you're contributing information that may or may not matter.
Consider the following three steps to help identify opportunities where relationships can result in revenue.
First, learn about the person. Go beyond traditional sales research on an account. Everyone selling solutions is trying to figure out the industry challenges a customer is facing.
They all look for articles or information that relate to those issues, and then send the information on with a note that says something like: “Saw this article and thought of you. Hope you find it helpful.”
Go beyond account research and focus on the person. Review a person's online profile, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Do a Google search about them. The purpose is to learn about the person and connect to them on a more personal level.
Second, be generous. Based on your research, stockpile ways to be generous with this person. The acts of generosity should be a mix of business and personal. Talk about a charity they are involved in, ask about their school, or talk about community organizations or events.
When appropriate and a good fit, be generous about your offerings. Your products, services and solutions might be just the answer the customer needs to overcome a problem. Don't let a fear of tarnishing a relationship get in the way of improving a relationship.
Third, ask. Over the course of time the customer learns more and more about you. You learn over time more and more about the challenges and issues the customer is facing. Bring the two together with a simple question such as: “You know what I do. Is there any way I can be of service?”
Two things about this question: One, using “I” instead of “we” personalizes it; two, it is open-ended and should be left that way. Don't be tempted to add a follow-on such as “Maybe I can help with the operator training issues you're dealing with on the shop floor.”
The open-ended nature of the question invites a wide array of responses. It is also a good test of how receptive the customer is to moving on to exploring a transaction of some type.
Turning relationships into revenue is a matter of research and understanding, generosity, and asking for an opportunity when appropriate.
If you do these three things you will find that doing business together will strengthen a relationship, not capitalize on or tarnish it.
Ken Cook is the co-founder of How to Who and co-author of How to WHO: Selling Personified, a book and program on building business through relationships. Learn more at www.howtowho.com.