THE WORLD IS full of salespeople who claim, quite proudly, to have great relationships with their customers. If that were true, it really would be great. But unfortunately, the term “great relationships” is too often a veil that salespeople hide behind to keep from exposing their sales skills weaknesses. Here’s how it works. An experienced salesperson believes that he or she has developed great relationships with customers. Therefore, he spends his time visiting these great customers, and focusing on maintaining the relationship. He can’t really dig deeper into the motivations and needs of the customer because he’s never really had those conversations before, and to
Read MoreAuthor: Dave Kahle
Stay One Step Ahead
I just fired my accountants. They really hadn’t done anything wrong. They were responsive when I called, and they appeared to keep up with the latest thinking in their profession. Their work was neat, accurate and timely. Their prices were fair. They conducted themselves professionally. But, I fired them anyway. While they consistently reacted professionally, they were never, ever proactive. They never came to me with an idea, never offered a suggestion that I didn’t first initiate. They never suggested a change for my benefit. I wanted someone to think about me, to hold my best interests up before their regular scrutiny, to extend themselves in order
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