sketchysales

Sales Manager

Personal relationship matters less than you think

Likely a very unpopular take on here so I am ready for the down votes but i wanted to have a discussion about it.

I have had a long standing opinion, which has been validated several times, that relationship between prospect and sales person actually doesnt mean half as much as we think.

Sure, we like our clients and our clients like us in the main and the personal relationship matters and is what got the deal done. However, how many times have you seen it where a sales person comes and goes and that prospect keeps buying with no issue? How many times have you come in and taken on an existing relationship and the whole "that customer will leave as soon as i leave" ego stroking mentality from the previous rep means nothing?

I maintain and will always maintain that in the main, the customer buys from the company and what the company can do for them, the personal relationship with sales is just a added bonus and makes it sweeter.

I appreciate this isnt applicable to 100% of the deals out there, there are some which are purely down to relationship (i.e. family friend or shitty company but lovely person) but the vast majority of deals are kept by the company behind you.

If theres one take-away i get from my own post, work for a company which the industry loves and buys from because they are good. You become sales enablement rather than having to be a warrior fighting a losing battle which relies purely on making friends, which lets be honest, most prospects you speak to are not looking for new friends.

p.s. remember this is an opinion, not a fact so change my mind if im wrong.

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aenima

Celebrated Contributor

6

Principal Account Manager

Disagree.

You’re conflating two different things.

(1) What sales reps think a personal relationship is and (2) what it actually is.

Most sales reps who talk about “strong personal relationships” are massively over-indexing the quality of the relationship. They’ve done most the talking and have done little to nothing to actually better the client. A client laughing at your joke or coming to a demo is not a personal relationship. If they don’t talk to you frequently about stuff not related to your product, then you don’t have a personal relationship. Full stop.

Most sales reps cannot develop a personal relationship because their training and incentive makes their client facing energies self-serving.

In the true sense of the term “personal relationship,” it matters significantly IF you have it. That doesn’t mean if you leave your client follows, but it gives you substantial long term edge over the conception because more than likely you’re being fed critical business intelligence from you real and deep personal relationships.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

4

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I agree with this take, but I think that you're also agreeing with sketch in that the examples provided align with your definition of the self-serving rep who may have developed a buddy-buddy relationship, but not a meaningful business relationship as you described. Good conversation.

sketchysales

Politicker

1

Sales Manager

I agree with your take and also Sunbunny's comment, you definitely can have a strong genuine relationship (i.e. taking your customer golfing at the weekend and your spouses are friends etc) but at the end of the day, the main reason they continue to buy is the company behind you and if you left, you will probably still golf on the weekend but they likely will continue buying from your old company.

My point is, many reps, particularly underperforming reps, peddle the whole "this customer is gone without me" bs and it is just not true 99.9% of the time. The customers interest is also self-serving and if the company, its products and its services are good, that personal relationship is very unlikely to have an impact on that, especially if there has been several years of working together.

I guess in all of this, i think its valuable to recognize that fact because i think it can set you free in your relationships and I feel you can leverage the good things within your org to grow a client beyond your relationship while maintaining a good relationship.

fcmf

Valued Contributor

0

RSM

I agree with you. Building that personal relationship is not that easy and to be really there it takes time and trust. Agree when customer is calling you about stuff not related to you as a vendor, you are in the right direction

Maximas

Tycoon

-2

Senior Sales Executive

I second this.

punishedlad

Tycoon

2

Business Development Team Lead

This point is pretty much validated in The Challenger Sale. If we're going by their different sales rep profiles, the relationship guy is usually the lowest performing when it comes to production.

The amount of great rapport I have with some prospects who still haven't moved forward is notable. Quick anecdote: I was at a networking happy hour after a conference and ended up hanging out with one prospect in particular for the whole night. Had great conversation, talked a lot about family/personal lives. I sent my follow up email with materials from my presentation that they requested and asked to set up some time to talk and she completely ignored my request and sent back a generic "Thank you!"

However, I do think relationships create great staying power with current clients and can really help move open opps forward.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

Sales Rep

I do agree that relationship is inflated, I do believe it has its place. Mainly because the first vendor to meet on selling x product in a competitive deal wins the most, so the vendor with the relationship first wins.

And for your example of the client continuing to buy/renew even though the sales rep changes. I bet a big reason they stay is because using your company's product is now the status quo there, and its hard to beat the status quo.

Now, if the rep changes multiple times during the deal cycle. I bet that changes the win % a lot

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

1

Account Executive

You know, I don't really know how much I think personal relationships matter. I've definitely had clients come back for repeat business based on how I helped them. But that was more of a professional relationship, it's not like I was friends with them outside of the business. I also don't think it was a strong enough relationship to get them to move their business to another company just to continue working with me.

RedLightning

Politicker

1

Mid-Market AE

GAP Selling would agree with you.

I wouldn't discount relationships entirely, but trust is the most important relationship you can build with customers/prospects.

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

0

Lead Sales

Keena brought this up in GAP Selling really well. He set up a 4-square with High/low relationship and high/low confidence on each axis.

No one wants to work with someone with low relationship and low competence and everyone wants to work with someone with high relationship and high competence. Yet the other 2 squares are different.

People are willing to work with high competent companes and reps even if they do not like them. Simply look at Comcast, Amazon, or WalMart. People do not like them but they are highly competent.

Meanwhile most people do not work with low competence/high relationship people. This is like your cousin who got their real estate license or that friend from high school that keeps getting pulled into MLM scams.

The difference is not relationships, it is competence.

Pachacuti

Politicker

0

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I once walked into a guys office for a sales call. I was selling telecom services. He straight up told me that he decided to go with a competitor because he’d been so impressed by the sales guy, who happen to be blind.

So we chatted for a few mins and just before I left he asked my rate per minute for long distance - just out of curiosity.

I told him. His exact quote was “fuck the blind guy. That’s less than half what he quoted me”.

So I can’t disagree with on the overall value of the sales-Client relationship.

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

So I agree that most often product trumps relationship. However, I know for a fact that clients have chosen to go with products I have sold because they felt they were being heard and I was showing how we'd help with problems they have had in the past. So yes product matters but also being knowledgable and relatable is incredibly helpful.

WheelofCheese

Opinionated

0

Sales Executive

I agree with you TO A POINT. People don’t buy from people they don’t like. Relationships do matter. BUT, once a client is in the door, they don’t often leave just because of the (former) relationship (i.e. follow you to your new company)

sketchysales

Politicker

1

Sales Manager

Of course, on the front end relationship is very important, but even then, I've proved a professional working relationship where high trust is being displayed but low "personal connection" is present, the deal will still be done. My point is that, sales people who claim it's purely down to their relationship are wrong

J.J.McLure

Politicker

0

Owner at *redacted*

I’ll agree and disagree with this statement 🤪

Personally I try to develop a strong working relationship with my clients, not personal. And this relationship grows the more I hustle for them and help them in their careers. That being said, the sales manager at my old job was pretty much the opposite of me, he would develop personal relationships and landed some very big fish that way even though his working knowledge of our products was very minimal. We were both successful in our own ways. In an introvert, so the idea of getting customers the way he does sounds like a nightmare (other than all the good food and drink he gets taking prospects out for dinners), everyone needs to find what works for them.

That being said, we need to open our eyes to what kind of relationship the client wants. 2 reps come to mind that we’re trying to sell me on partnerships in my last company. They were both trying to build a personal relationship with me because no doubt that’s what they’ve been told to do. I hated this,and as much as I tried to steer them to just a business relationship, they kept pushing and it cost them both a very lucrative contract that I awarded to someone who was no nonsense, gave me the facts I asked for and hustled to make me look good.

Angusmacg

Valued Contributor

0

Territory Account Mgr.

Personally I think relationships keep you “in the mix” for opportunities not sales. You still need to make the sale to your client/customer.

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