Are you a partner or a provider?
Salespeople Need to Think of Themselves as Providers, Not Partners.
Exaggerating your importance as a “partner” suggests you have equal skin in the game or you’re on equal footing with the buyer — and it can lead to disastrous results.
For example, complacency can easily set in with existing clients. Year after year, your clients continue to pay you. As part of your customer service protocols, you might send a holiday greeting, thanking them for another year of a great “partnership.
In a typical commercial transaction, the buyer controls the money, which means they own the power in the relationship. Salespeople have tried to improve their leverage by using the word “partner” instead of customer or client. In doing so, some reps have forgotten they still have the weaker hand in the exchanges between buyers and sellers.
Exaggerating your importance as a “partner” suggests you have equal skin in the game or you’re on equal footing with the buyer — and it can lead to disastrous results.
Great article and something to think about:
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Jancast # 134 is now up!
Mark and I talk about the recent ISSA show and welcome a special guest, Rodger McFadden, a highly respected author, and a valued IICRC Standards Committee member, as well as a true scientist and a world-class industry consultant.
We chat with Rodger about his long history in the industry and how things like “Green” and “Sustainability” have changed over the years. What does Green and Sustainability really mean? Is it only about products or does it include processes? Some of that and much more.
Scott Jarden