What's the key to sales success?

Sales is a challenging field, filled with pressure, and visible to every executive in the company. Each success is announced and celebrated, every failure scrutinized. Your success is often judged based on revenue versus value. It has very high peaks and extremely low valleys.

I've sold services, and I’ve sold products. I've consulted, collaborated, and darn near begged to close deals. I've chewed all my nails and celebrated extraordinary achievements. I've competed at the highest levels and sold the smallest deals- and one thing remains consistent in every sales experience.

Relationships.

No one purchases a product or service because it is the perfect thing they absolutely have to have. All products and services have limitations or are missing something the buyer wants or needs.

We can train sales reps on consultative sales, solution selling, problem-solving, assertive sales, asking for the budget, sales cycles, the dreaded end-of-quarter unnecessary conversations, and pulling a deal over the line. What we fail to focus on is training our salespeople to develop authentic relationships with buyers.

People buy from people they trust. People buy from those who are transparent, willing to share the good, the bad, and the ugly—people who will be the voice of their clients and help them to achieve their goals.

I have as many lasting relationships and friendships from sales cycles where I've lost deals as I do from those I've won.

If they aren’t your customer today, they might be in the future.

No matter what- be honest, maintain your integrity and your client relationships.