For the most part, people prefer to do business with people they like and trust. That’s why personal relationships are far more effective when it comes to getting people to say yes than the mastering of any sales technique. Let me give you an example: Eighty to ninety percent of the people who go into the business of selling insurance leave the field within a year. Now let’s take a look at a typical beginning insurance salesperson: Jill, a college graduate who has just completed an insurance company’s three-week training program at corporate headquarters. During this training program, Jill is thoroughly coached on the latest selling techniques.
After Jill has completed her training program, the first person to whom she tries to sell a policy is her father-someone with whom she has an already-established relationship. Now he probably needs another insurance policy like he needs a hole in his head, but he wants Jill to get off to a good start. After the transaction has been completed and Jill has a check from her father, he says, “I’ll bet your brother could use some insurance.” Of course her brother, in the interest of maintaining peace in the family, will eventually say yes. And finally, everybody like Jill has a few friends like me who would rather write her a check than risk losing her as a friend.
Eventually, however, Jill runs out of friends and relatives-people with whom she has already-existing relationships. When this happens, she tries the same techniques on total strangers that seemed to work so well on her father, her brother and her friends and what happens? Doors slam in her face. Regardless of how strong a person’s self-image is, there are a finite number of door slams that a person can endure. When this occurs, Jill decides that maybe she isn’t cut out to sell insurance and changes careers.
It’s interesting to contrast the Jills of this world with those people who go into the business of selling insurance, make a career out of it, get rich at it, and eventually turn the business over to their children. These people don’t even bother with selling techniques. Instead, they invest, up front, in relationships and then spend the time and effort to maintain these relationships. After a certain amount of time, they no longer have to sell insurance. The reason: Their satisfied customers are out there selling it for them!
Several years ago, when I was conducting a seminar in Atlanta, one of the participants stood up and asked, “how come there aren’t more millionaires?” As I mulled this question around in my mind, it began to occur to me that the reason there aren’t more millionaires, or highly successful people in any endeavor for that matter, is that most people don’t recognize the important role that personal relationships play in being successful in any profession. As a result, these people don’t devote any time or effort toward developing these necessary relationships because they don’t see the need. Without these relationships, however, they are unable to enlist the active support of other people on their behalf and so are destined to go through life trying to do everything by themselves.
On my return trip from Atlanta to Phoenix I had to change planes in Dallas. As I took my seat, I recognized the person sitting next to me. His name was Bill King and he was the owner of a very successful chain of brake repair shops known as Bill King’s Brake-0. I had seen him many times in his television commercials.
As the two of us got to know each other, Bill King began to share with me his philosophy on success. At one point, he leaned back and said, “Ross, let me tell you from personal experience that the road to becoming a millionaire is so simple that it boggles most people’s minds.”
I thought to myself, “Mr. King you keep talking, because I am taking notes!”
He went on, “If you develop a sense of trust with your employees (relationships) and take good care of them, your employees will take good care of you. Furthermore, if you develop a sense of trust with your customers (relationships) and take good care of them, your customers will take good care of you.” He then said, “If you want to make a million dollars a year, you need a million friends each turning a dollar a year for you. Or, you need a half-million friends each turning you two dollars per year and so forth. If you work this process long enough, you’ll eventually develop enough friends who each generate the right amount of revenue on your behalf. Once that happens,” he concluded, “becoming a millionaire is a piece of cake.”
I remember saying, “No wonder wealthy people don’t seem to work so hard!”
Bill King laughed at my remark because he had just spent several days participating in a celebrity golf tournament. He did say, however, that developing all these necessary relationships doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, and it’s work. On the other hand, it has a virtually guaranteed payoff. Take care of the people who stand between you and success or failure and they will take care of you.
Ross R. Reck, Ph.D.
Author of The X-Factor: Getting
Extraordinary Results From Ordinary People