Jul 09 2007
When Buyer And Seller Act As Partners They Are Building A Bridge To Profitability
Successful selling is definitely not about the “hit and run” sale. Sales achievers regard their relationships with key customers as a partnership and cultivate it as such. When customers face tough business challenges and complex technological choice, they rely on sales people who can assist them in making the right decisions.
The primary objective of a sales partnership has to be, to create and sustain a mutually productive relationship, which serves the needs of both parties, now and in the future. The key word here is symbiotic. Partnership does not mean eliminating the tension between buyer and seller; it means that top-performing salespeople know how to strike a balance between achieving immediate results and developing the relationship fully.
Why Do We Need A Fresh Approach To Selling?
Many organisations have developed without objective analysis of their purpose and structure. The buying power in many industries is no longer evenly distributed - in a large number of markets a few big firms control the majority of purchases.
The development of new marketing techniques has meant that some tasks traditionally performed by the sales team can be more effectively handled by other methods. The prime objective of all sales staff is to gain business. From an organisational point of view, however, how they all achieve their goals must be defined in order to identify what kind and the quality of skills that are required.
I suspect some of you will have seen the results of the “Best Leadership Blog Of 2007” - but if you haven’t this is how it finished:
Leading Blog - Building Community Leaders by Michael McKinney 615
Leadership Turn by Jonathan Farrington 410
Slow Leadership by Carmine Coyote 35
Extreme Leadership by Steve Farber 26
Dispatches from the New World of Work by Tom Peters 17
Management Craft by Lisa Haneberg 15
Talking Story by Rosa Say 11
Three Star Leadership Blog by Wally Bock 4
Mick’s Leadership Blog by Mick Yates 2
I sent Michael my congratulations and best wishes on Saturday morning: I genuinely believe he was a worthy winner and in fact I voted for him myself!
I do want to thank everyone who voted for me and made it such an exciting contest right up to the death - when I went to bed at 1am on Saturday morning, I had a lead of 60!! To receive 36% of the votes, when I only started blogging about leadership in mid-April, is pretty amazing. Have made a commitment to do better next year!
