Industry Magazine Commercial Kitchen Spring 2016 | Page 22

REALTIONSHIP SELLING

Jack Daly

Jack Daly is an expert in corporate culture that inspires audiences to take
action in customer loyalty and personal motivation. He delivers explosive
keynote and general session presentations. Jack brings 30+ years of fieldproven
experience from a starting base with CPA firm Arthur Andersen to the
CEO level of several national companies. Jack is a proven CEO/Entrepreneur,
having built six companies into national firms, two of which he subsequently
sold to the Wall Street firms of Solomon Brothers and First Boston.

HOW TO BE
SUCCESSFUL WITH
RELATIONSHIP
SELLING
Show Me Your Playbook

MOST sports teams are run better than most businesses. One
of the first things I do when I go in to a company is say, “Show me
your playbook.” Usually, they look at me like I’m the man from mars.
The success of every sports team is linked to practice, preparation
and having a great playbook. It’s no different when it comes to
sales.
A sales professional is someone who does three things: gets
business from a prospect that is already committed to someone
else; helps his or her business sources reach their full potential;
and constantly upgrades their clientele.
However, there are still some hurdles. How do you gain the
attention of attractive prospects? How do you overcome a
prospects’ commitment to another supplier? How do you combat
a prospects’ indifference to meet?
The answer is build a relationship with them. A core theme of
Relationship Selling is that two people who want to work together
won’t let details stand in their way.
Building a relationship starts by overcoming a prospect’s
indifference toward you. Ignorance is not bliss. Don’t call on a
prospect until you’ve “pre-marketed” yourself. This changes
the acceptance rating among prospects considerably. Create a
positive image by sending your prospect helpful ideas and general
market information. The greater the positive image you build the
greater your success will be.
Sales success is achieved from the bottom-up. First we define
a prospect’s highest value needs by conducting a meaningful
interview in a favorable environment.
When you call a prospect to set an appointment, ask to hold the

SPRING 2016

meeting in a conference room. You want to pull your client away
from their office and phone.
Professionals never recommend a course of action until
they’ve fully determined the problem, opportunity or need in the
relationship. You wouldn’t trust a physician who prescribed you
medicine before conducting a physical, would you? Hold yourself
to the same professional standards.
Everyone knows traditional salespeople talk too much.
Relationship sales professionals listen. The listener controls the
interview. There is a considerable difference between a traditional,
possibly manipulative salesperson, and a relational one.

At this point you’ll want to determine four
things:
• Highest value needs (HVNs) held by the
prospect;
• Social style of the person;
• Current relationships with competitors;
• Objections to be resolved;
Relationship selling focuses on discovering the customer’s
needs and offering viable solutions rather than pitching features.
More time is devoted to building relationships with less emphasis
on aggressive selling.

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