Always remember it's a Process...

Guest Contributor: Albert Luk
Albert's Posts - Albert's Site

You ever feel you are being pushed into a sale? The constant phone calls. The strong-arm tactics. The general bullying. What is your immediate reaction? To do the opposite as the desired result. You want to NOT buy no matter how great the good or service.

The credit crisis and the general turmoil in the economy seems to have made some sales-people snap and forget that selling to small business is, ultimately, a process of building a relationship. Perhaps some of succumb to the general panic that the earth will shallow the economy whole. But let us not forget that, in good times, anyone can make a sale and in bad times the true professional salespeople emerge.

I am often reminded of a story once told to me of a vendor who sold to the automotive industry (back when it was actually profitable). They were not on the approved vendor's list of a particular automotive company. However, impressed by the moxy of the owner-manager, a senior executive of the automotive manufacturer made the vendor a deal-meet with me every week for one year for one hour each. If you attend every week without fail, you will be placed on the approved vendor's list.

Sure enough, the vendor did so. Some weeks they spoke of business. Other weeks they spoke of their families. Some weeks they had a Seinfield-esque conversation about nothing. At the end of 52 weeks, the senior executive kept his promise and placed the vendor on the approved vendor's list. Given the size of the orders the company made, they instantly became the vendor's largest client.

Here's the twist in the story though- it turns out this executive made the same deal with every potential vendor and people never took him up on it or gave up after a while.

The morale of the story is that sales is a process and not an end per se. There's a reason why they call it a sales cycle. A cycle is a process of stages. Thus, lest you press the panic button over the ills of Wall Street, just remember to continue to believe in the process of a sale.