People have been asking me if selling through relationships is becoming less important in the age of remote communication. I would argue that the remote revolution is serving up the opportunity of a lifetime for salespeople who take the initiative to leverage this historic opportunity to stand out.
Here is what I mean.
People are sick of, and getting sick from, too much isolation. Yes, it can be efficient and it’s nice to knock out or reduce that commute, but almost everyone I talk to is going a little crazy with the reduction of their social interaction and the interruption of their interests and passions, whether that be sports or eating in restaurants, travel or gym workouts.
You can already see companies like Peloton seizing the opportunity and their sales have exploded, but not only because they offer an in-home training option . . . there are tons of those. They have also injected serious social interaction, and the other exercise companies are now scrambling to catch up.
This gives us a clue to how we can think about our own selling and relationship building. The question . . . what are we layering in to our communications programs to help fill the interaction void? What ideas can we come up with to not only talk to people, but to surprise, delight, entertain, engage and provide an emotional lift while our competitors continue to wallow in the general malaise like everybody else.
Here are a few examples:
- Contests and ideas among your network to raise morale in their companies.
- Curated ideas for keeping kids happy and engaged at home. Link to good resources.
- Curated ideas for kids and remote learning.
- Pick a passion and add a short note about it in your emails. Let’s say it’s travel or food. Endless opportunities.
- Fantasy sports leagues.
- Trivia contests that may or may not tie back to your business. Example elevators. When were they developed? Fastest elevator in the world? Tallest straight run in the world? Etc.
And don’t forget gifts. A nice bottle of wine just to thank someone for hanging tough goes a LONG way. Another favorite of mine is a great coffee table book on one of the prospect’s passions.
Summing it up . . . there is a lot of anxiety and even some depression out there these days. As a master salesperson, you are also a therapist.
Now more than ever the classic selling adage applies . . . “Lift their spirits, make the sale.”
