The relationship oriented person sees other people as the best way to achieve success.

In an extreme case, almost everything such an individual does in life must involve other people. Some general factors that describe a relationship oriented person:

When faced with a problem or a new situation, the first instinct for a relationship oriented person is to contact a friend or family member who might be able to help solve the problem or explain how to deal with it. This person does not like to be alone. Almost all activities must have a social element, even such simple tasks as doing the dishes, walking the dog, or working in the garden. A weekend is not complete unless at least some parts have a social element. A quiet Friday night makes a relationship oriented person uncomfortable - unless by quiet you mean going out to a friends house for drinks and a chat. Formal group settings, positive team spirit and a sense of camaraderie are all things that enliven a relationship oriented person. Recreational activities are in and of themselves not important only the social element of the activity is important. Almost any activity is fun if there are friends along and as long as the focus is on the social element and not on the activity itself (an important distinction). Finding out about other people is a natural instinct for the relationship oriented person. How people fit together - who is whos friend, for example, is extremely important to relationship oriented people. There is a hierarchy for relationship oriented people: One person to share a meal with is good. Two is better, Three is even better, Four or more is best. Adding people to an activity midstream, like asking someone to join a lunch or meeting, is completely acceptable and even makes the whole experience even livelier for the relationship oriented person. Verbal communication skills and body language awareness are the highest of any orientation. Verbal skills are naturally developed from infancy through the intense desire for interpersonal

interactions. A relationship oriented person can sometimes be seen actually repetitively practicing speech patterns, mimicking people they have strong bonds with, and reveling in verbal handshaking.

As a group these people are also very aware of body language and sensitive to personal energy. Relationship oriented people are irresistibly attracted to each other in social and work settings. Of course in romantic love opposites are said to attract, but in a general social setting, relationship oriented people will gravitate to each other very quickly. This is not true in all cases, however, as relationship oriented people are fascinated with people in general and see others who have a goal orientation, for example, as particularly fascinating. I met _____, the Olympic athlete, today! might be something a relationship oriented person would get excited about. Relationship oriented people who are not self-aware consider the other orientations boring and cold (process oriented people) or greedy, selfish, and self-centered (goal oriented people). Caveat: These thoughts dont last long if these other people show a modicum of real sociability. All can be (nearly) forgiven if someone is friendly. Homework or studying of any kind only works for relationship oriented people if there are other people around to do the homework or studying with. Solitary, individual, no-talking exams are an abomination to the relationship oriented person. Group projects with lots of time for social interaction are a delight.

Things you will hear a highly relationship oriented person say:

Let me call my friend - he will know the answer. Call me tonight. I will be doing my ironing, which is totally boring. We can chat while I do it! I want to start running again. Do you want to do it with me? Skiing? Sounds great! Who else is coming?? Lets go out to lunch together (I never eat alone!)

Come and join us for lunch! This is great...Jane, meet my friend Anne. Do you remember yesterday I mentioned Anne has a friend who works at... I know that person. Hey Jim!! How are you doing!?!? Lets study together tonight. Lets work on a project together or Can we do this project in teams? May we take the case study home the night before the exam so we can have more time to read it? (not just to read it, of course, but to work on it together) Sir, may I come to see you for help on my paper. (Help in this case means hoping that a friendly teacher will mean hints on how to get an A). A relationship oriented primary school teacher: That child plays so nicely and is so friendly with the other children. What a good child!

Spaces a relationship oriented person enjoys being in

Coffee shops - the ones where you can see everyone. Loud spaces are good, because you can hear other peoples conversations - a good thing for relationship oriented people. Bars - grouping around a table for drinks and chatting or sitting at the bar - but only sitting at the bar if the bartender is friendly and likes to talk. Open street cafes - where you can hear other peoples conversations and watch who is going by (you might see someone you know!) Open cafes are great places where others can see you, too. Then they might come over and join you for a chat. Restaurants that have an open floor plan where everyone can be seen clearly, particularly where the door can be watched to see who comes in. Wide open fitness clubs where you can watch other people. Wide open public spaces with lots of people walking around who you can see, hear, and where you might meet someone you know. Beaches, public walkways, and shopping malls are examples.

Movie theatres, stadiums, and outdoor events where lots of people gather for a purpose. These are great places for seeing, hearing and spotting people you know while they are engaged in viewing an activity. These places are also great because in them people are not actually focused on doing the activity and can therefore engage in discussions with you. Classrooms. If you want to meet new people, take an evening course at your local community college is an old dating maxim. The best classes for a relationship oriented person are the ones which are not rigidly controlled, but open to discussions and lots of before and after class chatting. These classes are a wonderful forum for socialization. Learning through discussion in close proximity to other people is a pleasure for the relationship oriented person.

Careers that attract relationship oriented people Extreme relationship oriented people are rare. Most people are a mix of two orientations, with one being dominant. A lot of people fall into this second group: A dominant relationship orientation and a lesser process or goal orientation. Those few people who have a very strong or extreme relationship orientation tend to favor certain careers. If they are not in these kinds of careers, they find themselves unhappy in their working lives. Some typical careers for relationship oriented people:

Sales - particularly where relationships are important - car sales, real estate sales, financial sales, business-to-business sales - any selling situation where interpersonal relationships play a role. Politics Public relations Dating services Recruitment firms Relationship banking

Learn more about the relationship orientation by exploring your own ways of doing things. There is no one right way of doing things in life but there seems to be some fairly common groupings of ways people go about doing them.

Selling is supremely important in marketing and considered as lifeblood in marketing. It is evident that selling based on customer orientation and relationship marketing will play a vital role in attracting and retaining more and more customers. The results of various studies show that there is a significant relationship between customer orientation and relationship marketing. One of the recent trends in sales research has been a growing focus on relationally based buyer-seller interactions. Although existing sales literature is in general agreement as to the theoretical composition of buyer-seller relationships, a lack of empirical evidence exists for the interrelationships of various aspects of relational selling (e.g. customer orientation, adaptability, and service orientation) on individual salespersons performance. Investigates the effect of these relational selling characteristics on the performance of individual salespeople. The results show a positive relationship exists between customer orientation and actual performance as measured by average annual sales dollars.

Sales is full of techniques, approaches and philosophies. Although some salespeople put great store in labeling these techniques, the different kinds of selling are better viewed as points on a continuum. Relationship selling and oriented relationship selling are examples of this. Not only are they similar approaches to selling, one is actually a subspecialty of the other. Relationship Selling Relationship selling applies to any sales technique that focuses on the salesperson's rapport and interaction with the buyer rather than the price or specifics of the product. Although all three are important in every sales transaction, emphasizing the relationship can improve customer

loyalty because they become familiar with -- even become friends with -the salesperson. Examples of Relationship Selling Relationship selling works best for products and services that rely on repeat business. Insurance agents and martial arts teachers, for example, rely heavily on relationship selling. They must compete on the grounds of quality and cost, but their clients ultimately buy and keep buying because of the relationship. By contrast, auto sales -- which often means just one conversation between a salesperson and the buyer -does not typically focus on relationship selling. Oriented Relationship Selling Oriented relationship selling takes a salesperson's knowledge of the buyer one step further. It focuses not just on the relationship, but on the specific needs that relationship fills for the buyer. Often, you'll add a descriptor to the term -- such as service-oriented relationship selling or history-oriented relationship selling. Examples of Oriented Relationship Selling A lawyer might have a trust-oriented selling relationship with his client, in that what the client values most in their relationship is his ability to trust her knowledge and discretion. A restaurant or bar owner does well by understanding where to orient his relationship with regulars. One customer might like his restaurant because of the rapport she has with him, while another might value the atmosphere and friendliness of the wait staff. A key to success with oriented relationship selling is correctly identifying which facet of the relationship on which to orient your selling technique. Which Is Better? Neither selling approach is necessarily better than the other, but one may be more appropriate for selling a specific product or service. As a general rule, oriented relationship selling requires an even greater investment of time and research than relationship selling. This makes it most appropriate for situations where you have multiple opportunities to make a sale.

Relationship selling is all about building a friendship or relationship with your prospects and listening to their needs. Once you've built that relationship, shown you care, and earned their

trust, you are on the road to making them a customer. Knowing their needs and finding out their secret fears (for example, your client may confide to you, "If I can't make this project work within budget, my boss will probably replace me!") can help you find solutions for them that are exactly on-target with their needs and build an even stronger relationship. With a relationship in place, working out details is a breeze. Those details become obstacles if you don't have the existing relationship. As a client, some of my best experiences with sales people were with those who honestly listened to my needs, and showed an interest in more than just the business. They came in with a low pressure, open, and honest approach and won my business. I didn't mind setting up appointments for their visits. I looked forward to them. It was low pressure and friendly. My company received good service, good prices, and everyone was happy. I knew they would react quickly if I had problems or emergency needs. So, when competitors called, I quickly told them we were happy with our current vendor - even if they may have been able to give us a better price! That's part of the power of relationship selling! Most people react negatively to high pressure sales. In relationship selling, high pressure is not typically part of the equation, simply because it's hard to have a friendly relationship with a client who feels pressured by you. In relationship selling, you become a form of support for your clients. Your services or products become something they depend on, and the more you can suit their needs and make their jobs easier, the better they will respond to additional sales offers. You'll also find that relationship selling benefits companies that offer products in very competitive markets - particularly if there isn't a lot of difference between products! Part of relationship selling involves maintaining regular contact. If you neglect a client who has trust in your integrity as a person and as a salesperson, that client may finally be forced to turn to your competitor. (Who has probably been calling regularly to get their business.) So, make sure you not only build the relationship, but keep regular contact and keep all channels of communication open. Make available several methods of contact for any type of emergency need. Or you may find that, in an emergency, your client was forced to contact that persistent competitor and discovered that, "Hey, he/she's a nice person too! And their product is maybe even a little better! Hmmmm!" So, the lesson is, make sure you maintain contact and are always accessible to your clients, or you may find yourself having to replace them! An important part of relationship selling is also having the technology available to manage and maintain those relationships. That often comes in the form of contact management software or a good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. We'll talk about that a little later in this article. A new sales technique that has recently surfaced involves spending significant sales time only with those prospects who offer the highest probability of a sale. Arriving at that

determination involves asking pointed questions and letting the prospect do the majority of the talking. The approach is to focus only on prospects who need your product, want you product, and can afford your product. Rather than using the effort trying to turn a low probability prospect into a high probability prospect, you focus your efforts entirely on the high probability group.

The sales process

Personal selling is as much an art as it is a science. The word art is used to describe that portion of the selling process that is highly creative in nature and difficult to explain. Before management selects and trains salespeople, it should have an understanding of the sales process. Obviously, the sales process will differ according to the size of the company, the nature of the product, the market and so forth. Sales objectives: 1. Information provision: Especially in case of new products or customers, the salesperson needs to fully explain all attributes of the product or service, answer any questions and probe for additional questions. 2. Persuasion. Once the initial product or service information is provided, the salesperson needs to focus on the following objectives: - Clearly distinguish attributes of the firms products or services from those of competitors. - Maximize the number of sales as a percent of presentations. - Convert undecided customers into first-time buyers. - Convert first-time customers into repeat purchasers. - Sell additional or complementary items to repeat customers.

- Tend to the needs of dissatisfied customers. 3. After-sake service. Whether the sale represents a first-time or repeat purchase, the salesperson needs to ensure the following objectives are met: - Delivery or installation of the product or service that meets or exceeds customer expectations. - Immediate follow-up calls and visits to address unresolved or new concerns. - Reassurance of products or service super priority through demonstrable actions. The Sales Relationship-Building process For many years the traditional approach to selling emphasized the firsttime sale of a product or service as the culmination of the sales process. Marketing concept and accompanying approach to personal selling view the initial sale as merely the first step in a long-term relationship-building process, not as the end goal. The relationship-building process which is designed to meet the objectives contains six sequential stages. These stages are (1) prospecting, (2) planning the sales call, (3) presentation, (4) responding to objections, (5) obtaining commitment/closing the sale and (6) building a long-term relationship. When a buyer and a salesperson have a close personal relationship, they both begin to rely on each other and communicate honestly. When each has a problem, they work together to solve it. Such market relationships are known as functional relationships. A person may have such a relationship with along-term medical or dental practitioner or hair-cutter. When organizations move beyond functional relationships, they develop strategic partnerships or strategic alliances. These are long-term, formal relationships in which both parties make significant commitments and investments in each other in order to pursue mutual goals and to improve the profitability of each other. Marketing managers and sales managers must make some very important decisions regarding how the sales fore should be organized. Most companies organize their sales

efforts either by geography, product or customer. There are two obvious reasons why it is critical that the sales force be properly controlled. First, personal selling can be the largest marketing expense component in the final price of the product. Second, unless the sales force is somehow directed, motivated and audited on continual basis, it is likely to be less efficient than it is capable of being. Controlling the sales force involves four key functions: (1) forecasting sales; (2) establishing sales territories and quotas, (3) analyzing expenses and (4) motivating and compensating performance.

"The bonds that unite another person to ourself exist only in our mind." -Marcel Proust Do you want to sell more? Sure you do. But, the question is, What prices are you willing to pay for your long-term success? Are you willing to give up instant gratification? Many sales people are not. Why would you even consider delaying the gratification a sale, especially if you sell on commission? For your sustained selling success, I believe it is infinitely more valuable to your selling career to put off the slippery sale today, for a lifetime customer. In our western culture, we all want it now. What is the price we pay for this hollow instant happiness? Ill tell you, its the reputation salespeople have in North America. Its right there next to crooked politicians, fallen clergy and dethroned CEOs. I have a better ideabuild a relationship! In my 17 years of outside sales and 15 years of inside selling, I learned after the first couple that selling is not warfare. Rather, selling is about building relationships. The larger your base of satisfied customers, the greater your annual sales results. Notice I did not say monthly? If you only look at monthly figures, as too many sales managers and vice presidents of sales are prone to do, you are missing the point. I have worked with too many ignorant sales managers and general managers who were focused only on this week's or this month's sales dollars. It was because they worked for a company that was bleeding to death. If your company is healthy, the focus will be yearly and half-decade. If your company is sick, the focus will be daily. Before I go any further, let me ask you this question: Is your company healthy? If not, why are you sticking around? There are plenty of healthy and prosperous businesses, why be a martyr and go down with the ship? If you are working for a healthy company, your company will place a high value on the relationships with its customer. Follow my RELATIONSHIP Model and I guarantee you will be successful in professional selling and loyal customer base. So loyal, that is, that your company will be afraid to ever let you become a victim of reengineering. R is for Relax. Relax and be authentic. This is first and foremost; trying to be someone you are not is the kiss of death in relationship building. Even if you think you can fool prospects, you are wrong. The first time maybe, but from then on, they have your number. If you decide to be the best possible you, understand that it is enough. Nobody likes a slippery snake oil salesman!

E is for Excitement. Be excited about your product and the chance to serve your customers. Think about that monotone teacher you had in high school or college, the one that put you to sleep five minutes into the class. An unexcited salesperson is no different. Why in the world would I want to do business with somebody that does not believe in, and is not excited about his or her products or services? Let me add a caution here: if you act like a 110-volt light bulb hooked up to 220 volts two things will happen to you. First you'll burn out in a glorious flash and secondly, you'll be a counterfeit. Being your best includes excitement, but the excitement must be genuine. L is for Look. Look your prospects and customers in the eye and thank them for the opportunity to serve. Be happy they came to see you or allowed you to visit them. Today, we live in a fast paced society, even in small town America. People do not have enough time to do all the things the want to. And you, as a salesperson, are asking them for some time, a small piece of their life. Let your prospects and customers know that you appreciate the opportunity to serve them in solving their challenges. A is for Ask. Ask plenty of questions that will cause discussion about your customer's desires and expectations. Im sure you have heard that a professional salesperson talks only 20% of the time and listens 80%, but the kind of questions that you ask what will really enable you to help them meet their product or service needs. Knowledge is power and you need lots of knowledge to help the highly sophisticated buyer of today. Do not shortchange your prospects by talking too much. If you talk too much, you will be of little value to your customers, and they will have no desire to build a relationship with you. T is for Talent. Use your talent to be a showman. Prove how your products will make their life better. Now this is an important key; how it will make THEIR life better, not your life. Get the focus on your prospect and use sizzle to sell the steak, not the hamburger. If you are focused only on YOUR presentation, and how great a showman you are, you will miss the point and most likely the sale. Your customers are not buying the show. Many today, are in pain and do need the show to better help them understand how your product will solve THEIR problems. I is for Invite. Invite your customer to hold, touch, feel, ride, test, use or otherwise experience your products. Get them in the act. If they hear, they forget. If they see, they remember. If they experience, they internalize. You want your customers to internalize the value of owning what you sell, don't you? How many people buy a car before the test drive? Not many! Put it in my hand and I am on the path to emotional ownership. If I emotionally own your product, it will be quite easy for you, the professional salesperson, to ALLOW me to buy it, don't you think? O is for Objections. Objections are really questions. Simply answer their questions. The feel, felt, found method is usually quite effective here. Let's review the method. When your prospect says "No," agree with them and show your understanding. Say, "I understand how you feel. Mrs. Jones felt exactly the same way. Although, after she gave it a try, it performed better that I promised and " Too often when your prospect is saying, "No," they are really saying, "I need to know more." If you understand this, youll

do a better job of answering their questions. Now is the time when all that listening you did earlier pays off. With your knowledge of your customer's need, you can smoke out the true roadblock to them having what they want. Then you can help them to buy. By doing so, you'll also add another brick onto the solid long-term relationship you and your company enjoys with that customer. N is for Now. Now is time to learn the three great words that will change your life. "Ask for it!" Ask them to buy that which you know they want NOW. What are you afraid of? Perhaps you are afraid that they will like you less for asking? I assure you, they will think less of you, if you do NOT ask them to buy. They will tend to say, "Yes" as not to offend you. You must sell the benefits of your product or service and not rely on the many features. Salespeople that sell features and not benefits hear a lot of "Great presentation" or "You are a great salesperson" as their prospects walk away empty handed. Never ask prospects to buy before you give them several great reasons to do what you desire. S is for Solve. Solve unresolved problems, challenges or roadblocks that are keeping your customers from having what they want. This is crucial and usually occurs after one or two trial closes. You now realize there is still some area you did not cover completely, some area you over looked. Somewhere along my sales path, I learned what is called the doorknob close. This is helpful when you are at the end of your helping rope, ready to fall into oblivion, the place where lost salespeople end up. Pack it all up; thank your prospect for their time and attention. As you grab the doorknob to leave, turn the knob. Stop, and turn around, still holding the knob. Ask, "Just for my information, Mr. Smith, why is it you didn't buy today?" Listen closelyyou are about to strike gold. Whatever it is that they say, respond with, "Oh my gosh, I forgot to cover that!" Now, let go of the knob and go back to your prospect and answer their last objection. H is for Help. Help them to buy it, ask again. Remember though your real goal is to build a powerful base of satisfied customers, not just make a sell today. Helping is also understa nding that its possible your prospect may have a reason for not buying today. If you stay focused on the relationship rather than just the sell, you'll be a long-term success rather than just another hotshot, hooked up to 220 volts, burning the brightest for a very short time. I is for Inspire. Inspire your customers to feel really good about their buying decision. When your customer begs you to allow them to buy, or simply says, "I'll take it, remember to guard against buyers remorse. Inspire them to feel really good about their decision to buy and doing business with you. Remind them, just one more time, what a good choice they made by reviewing all the ways the product or service will make their life better. Inspire them to take full advantage of your product support and customer service programs. Make them feel so good about doing business with you that they will want to tell all their friends about you. P is for Partner. Become your customer's partner in total product/service satisfaction (TPS or TSS). Follow up regularly. Be certain of the value and enjoyment your customers have received from doing business with you and your company. Make certain they feel really good about buying from you 30, 60, 90 days

later. Now that you truly have embarked on the path of building a long- term relationship, ask for referrals. Allow your satisfied customers to now help you in your career. Allow them to help their friends in enjoying the really good feelings they have enjoyed. Partners get real leads from their customers, not just the useless lists of names frequently given to pushy salespeople to get rid of them. In making your deposits into the "Relationship Bank," you are guaranteed to yield healthy returns. Position yourself as a partner. Be persistent in your selling efforts. Try repeatedly to help your prospects to have all that you know they want. Have patienceI've learned that being number two in the minds of your prospects will pay off. Your competitor will blow it someday, as you and I have, and when they do, there you are, ready to take full advantage of the relationship you've built. Building relationships does payoff. Not always today, but generally sooner than you think.

Customer Relationship Management

CRM is a strategy, process and technology that lets your company make the most of every sale by optimizing revenue and getting a better understanding of the customer's needs. The CRM universe rolls together sales (as a type of Sales Force Automation), marketing, and customer service into a single software-driven technology. In other words, it includes the areas of your company that affect the relationships with your customers. It puts this information into a single package which encompasses the meat of what every customercentric business needs to know and keep track of. Every interaction with a customer is recorded in this single system. That information is then used to manage, measure and keep track of the processes of marketing, sales and customer service as they relate to that customer. Overall, it builds greater customer loyalty and a better customer experience. No more will the Sales department blame Marketing for not communicating with them. No more will Customer Service blame Sales for disgruntled customers. No more will Marketing blame everyone else for not implementing their business solutions. Now everyone can live in one big happy, customer-focused universe that communicates and desegregates the internal workings of the company. Before, no one was accountable for why the customer wasn't happy. There was a lot of finger-pointing and buck-passing. With CRM everyone has access to what's going on with every customer and can access the information necessary to keep that customer happy. Now, if we focus on the Sales portion of this we see that, with CRM, Sales can build that relationship (remember Relationship Selling) and that relationship can be extended deeper into the company to customer service. So, you have an even greater chance of keeping that customer happy and addressing his needs quickly and efficiently. Marketing can use the data gathered to develop new business solutions, directions, and more effectively communicate the offerings of the company.

Notes about Setting Up Your CRM System As great as CRM is, it can't work without some up-front planning and forethought. For example, before you set up your sales team with a contact management or CRM system you have to first:

Plan the details of the information you want to collect. Set up procedures and protocols for how the information will be entered. Standardize phrasing and abbreviations for company names or address information. Create drop-down lists for common terms and items that everyone would use. Agree on report formats and styles and set up templates. Once you have the preliminary information identified and squared away, set up time to thoroughly train your sales team and have an accessible resource for future questions and suggestions. It's a process that has to be planned and managed in order to be effective. CRM is definitely the way of the future. Companies that don't implement some form of CRM may have a hard time keeping their customers as happy as their competitors who have a CRM system do.

Conclusion We attempted to outline and explain the personal selling aspect of the promotion mix. An emphasis was placed on describing the importance of the relationship-building aspect of the personal selling process. For organizations that wish to continue to grow and prosper, personal selling plays an integral part in the marketing of products and services. As long as production continues to expand through the development of new and highly technical products, personal selling will continue to be an important part of marketing strategy.