Relationship Building

A recent post got us into the discussion of relationship building. Do you build relationships with your prospects? I personally invest the time as much as possible into my prospects because I know that they'll need to trust me at least enough to chat. Plus, I like building a network for later referrals. Ultimately, it's the value you can provide, but I do believe relationship building is much more effective than just straight cold calling.


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fuzzy - So, I'm a sales consultant and our research points to begin relationship building and not trying to sell first (ie: LinkedIn)




wunderbear- Interesting, can you share a link pls? My take on this is the following. You do not have to sell on the first call. Also based on the research from the book Challenger sale, the data points looks into relationship building which is not necessarily the key factor in closing deals.



fuzzy- I can't without giving away where I work. There is no B/W response to this because we're all dealing with different demographics and personas. But, no one likes being flat-out cold-called. Warming up the prospect is much more effective but a lot more work. But, it's about quality over quantity. Relationship building is never the key factor, but trust and value are. Can't have trust without a relationship. "


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