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Are your customer relationships an asset or an obstacle?
 by Dave Kahle Positive customer relationships are the basis of much B2B business, right? Positive business relationships ensure us an audience with the customer, make every step of the selling process go easier, and even provide us with a competitive edge. It's not unusual for the business to come your way just because they like you the best. But in today's hyper-competitive economy, relying on your relationships is like trying to paddle through the storm in a leaky row boat - your effort will keep you afloat for a short time, but eventually you'll find that you just don't have enough resources to challenge the storm. Relying on your relationships is a prescription for eventual failure. Here's why. The world is full of, literally overrun with, business to business sales people who have built a solid business relationship with a segment of their customer base. They then rely on those relationships to support them. In doing that, they have missed the opportunity to develop their sales skills. "I have great relationships with my customers," they think. "I don't need to learn to sell well." And, for years, that was somewhat true. Now, however, they are paying the price of that position. Many of their customers are seeing their businesses decline. The relationships that so many sales people counted on to support them are no longer as profitable as they once were. And, since they never spent the time and effort to improve themselves, they find themselves woefully unequipped to gain new customers, to create demand for their new products, or to persuasively gain bigger chunks of their customer's business. Their boat is sinking, and they never gained the skills necessary to keep it afloat. The vast majority of B2B sales people have never been trained in the principles, practices and processes that are the best way to do their jobs. Not only are they paying the price of never developing their sales competencies, they now find themselves restricted by those very relationships that were, just a few years ago, their meal tickets. Here's how this works. A sales person develops a set of relationships, and then settles into a routine of seeing those people on a regular basis. Those customers come to rely on him, and their purchasing patterns revolve around those regular visits. As long as they order in a sufficient quantity, life is good. But now, those same customers aren't filling the coffers like they used to... Click here to read the rest of this artilcle
Dave Kahle has trained tens of thousands of B2B salespeople and sales managers to be more effective in the 21st Century economy. He's authored seven books, and presented in 47 states and seven countries. Visit his website or sign up for weekly newsletter. | 
