The Psychology of Relationships in Sales

Your greatest assets in life are found in your relationships. Do not overlook the power of relationships and how they improve your business. Countless numbers of books have been written regarding relationships and how to improve them. Today we discuss the importance of relationships in the sales process.

The relationship really is the first step in any sales process especially with new relationships not built by a referral. If you are in a business that doesn’t have outstanding brand recognition, you should really pay close attention to this article. If you do have great brand recognition, you too can benefit by understanding how to leverage your brand to build powerful relationships.

Four Major Bricks to Solid Relationships

A quality relationship is built with a solid foundation. In the foundation, there are four major bricks.

1. Credibility
2. Trust
3. Common Ground
4. Communication

The Credibility Brick

Credibility is the basis for how new relationships are started in the sales process. In today’s market it is becoming harder and harder to breakdown the communication roadblocks presented by technology. You must create credibility to help unlock your opportunity to start a relationship. Credibility begins with you understanding your potential customer, their situation, market and possible struggles. That’s right, every credible relationship requires understanding.

Being credible is a process not a single event. It is a practice of consistency. Our research shows that professionals who demonstrate a high level of credibility are consistent, reliable and have a command of their product or service and how it relates to the customer. Remember, it takes time to build credibility but only a short while to break it down.

The Trust Brick

Trust and credibility are often confused. They are mutually exclusive, but codependent in nature. Imagine this:

A sales professional calls on a prospect and develops a high level of credibility because she understands the customers business and how her services can improve their situation. However, as she begins the relationship she starts to fall short on the deliverables she promises. How do you feel shortcomings in deliverables effect the trust the customer has in her? You guessed it; she’s a giant loser in the mind of the buyer. If she cannot be trusted with small deliverables, how can she be trusted when the buyer really needs to count on her?

The earlier you build trust the quicker you’ll move the sale forward. As with credibility, trust is not an event but a process. You develop it with each correspondence you have either verbally or written. Sales are often lost due to a lack of trust felt by the buyer.

Psychology of Relationships in Sales

In next week’s article, we will discuss the other two points of Psychology of Relationships, Common Ground and Communication.