Are You a Good Friend?

While writing about strategies, techniques, tasks and chores, I also want to share a view from the top of the sales process. Even though spending time on the details of sales calls is important, it’s also worthwhile to pull the camera back for a panoramic view.

I am not one for concepts, but I am going to take the plunge today. Too many providers are missing out on what truly makes the sales relationship count.

As we review the first quarter of 2007 and all that is happening in the industry, think about this slide I recently wrote for an upcoming presentation. The slide reads: Selling is not a race toward a sale, but a race toward a relationship.

I believe many think selling is just about getting the order, locating a new patient or uncovering a new referral source. But building a true sales relationship is not so easy. It’s about taking time to work through the process of building customer trust, learning about each other’s needs and developing rapport. It’s thinking about long-term relationships, solving problems and providing continuity of care.

These may not be the easiest concepts to understand. They do not come with any road map or tracking system. It’s not all about which words to use during the sales meeting, what questions you should be asking or what clinical procedures to put in place.

What I am referring to has nothing to do with sales training techniques — but it is the umbrella under which all salespeople must transact business. I am talking about what you need to consider when you are involved in “friendship development.” The dictionary defines a friend as one who is understanding, caring and shows concern for others. Sounds like a sales rep to me.

Building a sales relationship is similar to building a friendship. Friends look to you for advice, support, trust and reliability. Your friends hope you will be there when they need you and that you will share honest and open advice with them.

Friends hope you will come and pick them up when their car does not start, call them to see how they are and be with them in an emergency. We answer their calls in a timely manner and never let them feel we have forgotten them.

Maybe we should be sending salespeople to a school that teaches about friendship. (Possibly my Sales Training University should be renamed Friendship U!) The point is that if we treated our friends like some companies treat their referral sources and patients, we wouldn’t have any friends.

Now it’s time for another thought-provoking slide. How about this one: Good friends make good salespeople. With this in mind, here are some friendship-building ideas to use when building a profitable sales program:

• Be accessible. There is little value in having a friend — or a home care provider — who is not accessible.
• Understand that those you work with have good days and bad. Sometimes your referral sources may be having a bad hair day and will take it out on you.
• Understand that you may be asked to go beyond what is expected. You may just have to provide a hard-to-produce report or call two doctors to obtain all the information that is needed.
• If it’s a real friendship, realize that you might have to overextend yourself. You might have to work late to get the order delivered or call the patient’s daughter to review how to help her mom use the nebulizer.
• Friendships do not always include formal thank-you notes. You may provide lots of extras for a referral source and never receive a formal thank-you. Remember that the real thank-you comes in the form of continued orders and trust in your work.
• Friends don’t always call at the right time. When the telephone rings five minutes after your office is closed, pick up the call and spend some after-hours time letting the customer know you care and are waiting to help them.

You may be surprised when your referral sources become your friends. With a new thought process focusing on what it takes to be a good friend, maybe some of your new friends will soon become your best customers.

Louis Feuer is president of Dynamic Seminars & Consulting Inc. and the founder and director of the DSC Teleconference Series, a teleconference training program. He can be reached at www.DynamicSeminars.com or by phone at 954/435-8182.