Some salespeople see closing the sale as the finish line, but really if you want to be that top tier salesperson you should view the close as the midway point. The first part being how you turn leads in to and actual decision by your customer on whether they are willing to exchange money for something you have. The later part being developing a long-lasting relationship that could produce future sales. When thinking about this topic the salesman that sold my grandma her current car comes to mind. When she bought the car, he was very knowledgeable and wasn’t pushy by any means. He showed her the three different size options in the lineup and let her make her own decision on which car would best fit her needs. After the purchase is where he separated himself from other car salesmen. Most car salesmen try and call the customer about a week after the purchase to see how everything is going, but after that the customer never hears from them again. The salesman that my grandma dealt with continued to “check in” throughout the next couple months and the following year. He made it more conversational and seemed to actually care about what my grandma had to say about her experience with the car. This allowed him to develop a sales relationship with my grandma which he uses to send her deals on newer similar vehicles. If he wouldn’t have continued to reach out to my grandma and asked how she liked her new car he wouldn’t have developed that sales relationship and gained her trust on going to him first when she is on the market for a new car. With this approach I think he has a loyal client base that helps him be the successful salesman he is. From a salesperson’s perspective, I think they need to develop this same approach, develop a long-lasting sales relationship after the sale that could potentially turn into future sales. Even if that customer doesn’t buy from you again, but the relationship is there, they could send leads your way because they trust you.
Ethan David 
Caroline Marie Dawson
Great article, this really shows the importance of maintaining the relationships. In sales so often people focus on making the relationship but not on sustaining it and it comes off as fake over the long term.
Converting leads into an actual prospect is probably one of the more difficult things that the average salesperson is not able to do. Great insight by opening up your article that way.
That is a great example of why making long term relationships matters. They could lead to more sales down the road, either from the same customer, or from friends of the customer who hear about the amazing salesperson. This also could go the negative way, where there is either not a good relationship, or no relationship at all. In this case, the customer probably would not buy from the salesperson again (if they did in the first place), and they would either not tell their friends about the experience and not remember it, or they could tell people about the bad experience they had. Either one is not good, which is why building good, long lasting relationships in sales are important.