Welcome back, my friends! We’re so happy to have you watching our “Real”-ationship Series. Getting you up to speed: I’ve been sharing an eye-opening experience from my career that taught me an invaluable lesson about the power of relationships and mindset in sales.
It was December, and I was at my wit’s end. I had decided to give myself one more month to break the 20-car barrier, which I had never surpassed in my three and a half years of selling cars. But that month, something extraordinary happened: I sold 63 cars!
When something incredible (or disastrous) happens in your life, you need to ask yourself, “What the hell just happened?” I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it worked! I knew I had to figure out the recipe for my sudden success. Everything at the dealership was the same – the location, the manager, the finance department, the advertising, and the service department. Nothing external had changed.
So, what had changed? It was tough to figure out, honestly. The first time you reach for full awareness in yourself, it is not easy! Watch this week’s video to see what I figured out.
The change was completely internal – what changed was my mindset and approach. I broke all the rules and decided to do things my way. I focused solely on people who knew me – my Cajun friends. I didn’t talk to strangers or try to win over people who didn’t already have some connection to me. This shift in strategy was all about tapping into existing relationships.
I realized that my success had nothing to do with external factors like the economy or management. It was all about my belief system and mindset. By deciding to engage only with people who knew and trusted me, I changed the game. From that moment on, I never sold fewer than 28 cars a month again in my career.
This experience became the foundation for what I teach and how I teach it. Relationship Selling has a clear formula: transactional customers who don’t know you have a low closing ratio and require you to sell them on liking, trusting, and believing in you. On the other hand, people who already know, like, trust, and believe in you come much easier. They don’t scrutinize every word you say, and the sales process flows naturally. It allows the job to be entirely about helping people because you don’t have to constantly defend your honor and integrity.
Did you know that 71% of new salespeople fail because of tough transactional customers? You already have relationships with people who trust and believe in you. Lean into those relationships. Don’t wait for customers who don’t know you. Focus on those who do, and you’ll see a dramatic difference in your results.
Let me share a quick story from 2010. A friend of mine, Tito, was well-known and trusted in her community. She decided to leverage those relationships in her sales career. She didn’t wait for random customers; she reached out to people who knew her and trusted her. Her success skyrocketed, just like mine did when I shifted my focus.
This is YOUR business! It should work for YOU. All you have to do is find some awareness in your process and break some rules. Ask yourself:
How do I make things work for me and my customers, while staying in total integrity?
How do I make MY BUSINESS work for me?
After asking myself these simple questions, my rules of engagement became:
- My Customer Always Comes First
- My Process Works For Me
- 100% Honesty
So, my challenge to you is this: what if you decided never to wait on anybody who didn’t know you or wasn’t referred to you? What if you built your business around relationships with people who already believe in you? Give it a try, and watch your success soar.
Remember, it’s not about what you know or who you know – it’s about who knows you. Build those relationships, nurture them, and see how they transform your career.
Post your rules of engagement close to your desk as a constant reminder of your standard of business. If you like mine, just write those down. Have some rules that work better for you? Tell us in the comments below.