Creating and Building Business Relationships

Creating and Building Business Relationships

One of the most difficult areas in sales and yet one of the most critical areas that a person new to sales needs to learn is how to cold call and how to establish relationships. This is necessary in almost any business because the most common way to grow is to add new clients. You need new clients to replace clients that leave, move, change their business due to market forces, etc.

Most people fear the rejection of going into a business where they know no one and try to establish a rapport and start to develop a relationship with this new potential client. I would not categorize this as a trivial area, I don’t think it’s as intimidating as some its made out to be in many publications and many seminars I taken. The keys are to get your subject’s attention and interest. Think of it as a “Business Blind Date”. You never know what might develop…

A huge part of the issue is getting into the proper frame of mind. Keep your eye on the prize! This is the potential opportunity to break into a new account, meet someone who might be the decision maker for new business or you might just meet someone who is pleasant and you end up with a new friend. If you have a mutual friend or business associate, ask them introduce you. Meeting for a quick cup of coffee if possible makes the meeting a bit more relaxed and eases the tension. Having a mutual acquaintance breaks the ice and establishes some common ground for you both.

But it’s very important to that you respect the other parties’ time constraints and keep in mind that this is an introduction, not a sales presentation. Keep it light and keep to your agreed upon time frame. If you ask to meet for a half hour for a cup of coffee, keep it to thirty minutes. You should make a remark when you’ve been there for close to the half hour mark like, “ I noticed that its been almost a half hour since we sat down. I want to thank you for your time. I’m happy I had a chance to meet you and spend this time with you. I know your time is at a premium, so if you need to get back to your office now, I certainly understand. Can we continue this later in the week?” You are making this person aware that you respect their time. You are also setting up a follow up meeting. You might also get lucky if they’re interested and they’ll say, “I have some more time, let’s keep going.” But even if they leave, that can mean they have other obligations to fulfill. Don’t be discouraged!

Thanks for reading. Your comments are always appreciated.