In almost every sales situation that we can think of, there are at least two parties. The seller is interested in delivering a product or service in exchange for resources and the buyer may or may not need that product or service. Many of the images that come to our minds when thinking about sales are ones of manipulation and vague promises.<\/p>\n
However, with the ever-increasing availability of information on the internet buyers are no longer in the dark about most products, services, and competitors. Now even those in sales with honest intentions and truly beneficial offers must battle the buyer’s skepticism.<\/p>\n
With this in mind, how would one in sales overcome this obstacle? The buyer will likely know as much as the seller, maybe even more. The seller must build a trusting relationship with their potential customer. However, the seller must realize that in order to do this they must understand that the result could mean the buyer going a different direction. The seller must take an “I sacrifice, we win” approach (Praxis<\/a>), by asking questions with the goal of truly finding the pain of their potential customer and determining whether that pain can be solved or helped through their product.<\/p>\n The relationship can also be part of the sale, not only is the salesman selling their company’s product but quite possibly the relationship the customer will have with the company as well. It is possible that a competitor has a competing product at a lower price, but if that company does a terrible job with customer service a higher price may be worth it to the customer.<\/p>\n I believe a humorous but good example of this would be a scene from the office where Jim Halpert and Dwight Schrute attempt to make a sale but can’t compete with their competitor’s prices. While Jim is discussing other aspects of their product with the customer, Dwight places a call. At the end of their lengthy conversation, Dwight mentions that he has been on hold with the competition the whole time. Jim places a call to Dunder Mifflin and instantly gets through. This convinces their customer to buy from them and they close the deal. This is the importance of relationship selling.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n