Until the age of 13 I lived in a restaurant. My dad is a chef, and we owned a fine dining restaurant. I know it sounds kind of odd to think that I lived above a restaurant for so long, and it is a little weird, but I learned so much about the restaurant industry and things that happen within a restaurant that I am happy I lived there.
When I used to come home from elementary school usually 3 out of the 5 days there would be a food salesman in the restaurant. As I would walk through to go find my dad, I would always interact with the salesmen and sometimes sit in on my dad’s conversation with him. Looking back now, it didn’t seem like much of a sales “pitch” at all. All they would do is sit and have a nice conversation. I realize now that the salesmen had already done their “pitching” and their weekly conversations with my dad were very relaxed. They did not have to worry about if they were going to get the sale or anything like that, it was all about being present in the moment and being helpful to my dad.
This kind of sales is a little different than normal sales selling I would say since once the seller gets the prospect once, they really don’t have to fight for them again. My dad had great relationships with his salesmen, and I give the credit to the salesmen for that relationship because they had to work hard to create it, keep it, and maintain it.
testacr22
I’ve seen similar relationships when I worked on a construction site. The general contractor had certain subcontractors he would call for specific tasks; an electrician, a plumber, a cabinet shop, and so forth. Each of these contractors’ interactions with the general contractor, and the interactions with the subcontractors’ suppliers’ salesmen, were always interesting to watch, as for the most part, the “prospect” was already buying, and the “seller” was simply trying to support the ideal selection for the prospect. For supplier-type selling, relationship building is obviously immensely important.
Non-sales selling is definitely on the rise and is extremely prominent with people with good relations. My dad constantly bids jobs for his business and a big part of whether he gets them is if he has talked to the contractor beforehand. Relationships are huge in any situation, especially sales. Nice post!