I recently met the L&D head of a large conglomerate. We were discussing about the different possible interventions including sales training.
Vikas, I hope you focus on relationships in your sales training – the L&D head said. He then shared a small incidence.
He was in Bengal for a market visit many years back where he realised the power of relationships!
The sales officer of his company had visited a big potential distributor many times but the distributor had refused to sign up.
The sales officer still used to wish him Nomoskar (Namaskar in Bangla) and used to spend a minute with his toddler each time he was passing by his office (his residence was upstairs and thus many a times his young son was playing in his office).
Gradually the toddler developed an affinity for the sales officer and used to look forward to his visit.
It so happened that the sales officer did not come for many days and one of these days the toddler fell sick.
His condition did not improve. He got cranky and used to stand at the door for some time as if he was waiting for someone.
The distributor happened to call the sales officer and told him about his child. He asked him if he could come for a while.
The sales officer came to his office the same evening and met the child. To everyone’s surprise, the child was back to normal the next day.
The distributor signed up with the company the very next week.
You would be thinking – does it make any sense?
Well yes!
The distributor understood that the sales officer not only knew how to build relationships but he also valued the relationships he had built. It’s the latter part which made him sign up!
They worked closely and he went on to become one of the top distributors in the state in the next 18 months.
I could see the spark in the eyes of the L&D head as he finished narrating this incidence. I told him that I actually cover relationships in detail in my sales training!
Have you been investing time in cementing some relationships?
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