Relationship Selling is like Selecting a Life Partner

There is an old saying in the sales community that if you can’t sell yourself, you won’t be able to sell anything else. I see this happen in every salesperson’s life when they use their relationship selling skills in personal day to day life. Any long term project in sales needs the same amount of patience as required in selecting a life partner. This theory is easily understood if the sales process is applied to selecting a life partner as seen in the following process of selling to a new  mining project.

Objective

In both cases (whether it be applied to relationship selling or selecting a life partner) you have a clear objective in mind. The objective in sales for a new mining project is to sell your products and solutions to new green field mining job and in the second case is to select a suitable life partner.

Identifying

This is a critical first step in either mining sales or selecting a life partner. Identifying a mining project starts with networking and seeking geologists that inform you which project sites are under evaluation. Another form of seeking a new mining project is through different media channels, such as TV and newspaper. On the other hand, when you start searching for a life partner, your friends play the role of the “geologists” by introducing you to possible partners. Also, media channels such as social media and dating websites are used to search for the perfect partner.

Prospecting

Once you identify a new mining job, you start prospecting by finding who is the owner, EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) and financiers for that job. Similarly, in the case of a life partner, you start gathering data about his/her personality, parents, friends, family friends and professional life. In both cases, you normally stop chasing either the project or the person at this point if it is not the right fit for you.

Presenting

This is the point where you use all your sales skills. You start working with all stakeholders in the mining project who you identified at the time of prospecting. You discuss their needs, present your products and solutions, show them your references and finally discuss financials. Similarly, in the other scenario, you mutually understand each other, present yourself to each other’s family, introduce your family and friends and discuss your financial standings.

Knowing your competitors

This is the most important step in both scenarios. In mining sales, you always want to be aware of your competitors. Any kind of relationship (any applicable past contract) the company is having with any competitors which can affect this project. Similarly, in other case, you also want to know from your future life partner about their present commitment level and make sure that they are not interested in someone else.

Finalizing

After you’ve finished handling all objections in the mining job, you finalize the deal and get an order through a negotiation. Also, in the case of looking for a life partner, you mutually decide about the marriage date, expenses, size and perhaps the value of the ring, etc. The time taken in winning a mining project can take a number of years or sometimes the project becomes dead at any step. Similarly, in the other scenario, it also takes times and in some cases a relationship doesn’t achieve soul mate status.

Handling situations

A good relationship selling sales person never gets depressed in the initial stages, as he is always working on multiple opportunities; but, in the other scenario, it all depends on each individual whether he is working with others before completing the prospecting stage.

Relationship selling is fun and you use sales in almost all aspects of your life. The only difference in the scenarios is that you stop prospecting in real life after you select a life partner unless the deal goes bad after a few months or years, but in mining sales, you are always working on new sales.

Photo: Yoann Boyer

Sanjeev Neb, CME, CSE, Sales Account Manager- Siemens Canada, Director-Sales and Marketing Executives International Inc. (SMEI)