A Customer Forever? What a Great Idea.

Back in the 70s when I was a young 20-something starting in sales at the Hawaiian Regent Hotel in Honolulu, it was emphasized to me many times the importance of building relationships, long-lasting ones.   This was punctuated with “surround yourself with customers who will support you forever with whatever you were selling.”   Thus, the a need to build long-lasting relationships professionally and personally.

As a young, aspiring salesman who thought the only thing that mattered was making a sale today, building for tomorrow seemed to be far-reaching.   In the beginning, I did not understand how or why I would spend valuable selling time on tomorrow when I should be concentrating on closing sales today.   After all, if sales were not made today, I may not be around tomorrow.   It was “NAÏVE” thinking, but then I was young and naïve.   Maturity was still far away.   Salespeople live by a different set of rules, one of quotas and revenue production.   You stay if you can produce, and leave if you cannot produce.  There are many lost careers due to a lack of production.   So, it was always felt that salespeople live day to day to produce so that they would have a tomorrow. 

When you are young, you do not realize that you must “prepare for and create tomorrow.”

To no surprise, salespeople mature quickly due to the necessity to survive and persevere.   When I made my first sale, a group tour of 50 rooms for 6 nights (300 room nights), I was happy and so very excited.   As I reflected on the success, it was like a bright light flashed in front of me.   It would be wonderful if this customer could give me this type of business steadily in the future.   How terrific it would be if he could be a customer “forever.”  It seemed like a dream, but then if that were to happen, I could count on him for more business ahead.   My mind was moving at warp speed now.  Imagine if I could surround myself with many customers like this, the more the better, they could provide me with a steady supply of business in the future.

This story sounds trivial, but it is an important story.   It is the road that should be more traveled.  Successful sales leaders will tell you that if you do not believe this, your sales career will be short.   Young salespeople should adopt this principle early in their careers so that as their career grows, so does their base of customers.   It is never too late to start building, but certainly the earlier the better.

It has been said many times that “it is easier and less expensive to keep a customer than to find a new one.” 

Relationships mean everything, and it is our goal to build these relationships, which are the foundations for our careers.   Successful salespeople are intensely focused on making a sale and satisfying a customer today, tomorrow, and again and again.   Building long-lasting relationships to deliver more sales is more than a one-time strategy, but a career goal to survive.   It must be part of the sale, the pitch, the reason to be a salesperson.

Learn to build long-lasting relationships, as it is vital and an integral part of a successful salesperson’s career.   I have spent a lifetime doing this.   It does take time and effort.   Reach out to me if I can guide you in this quest.  I have more to share.