Bring a brick...NOT a cathedral!

A co-worker and myself traveled to Roanoke, VA today for some sales training that was focused on building customer relationships. The class was very informative and helped us re-train our thinking when it comes to these situations. One thing stuck out to me more than everything else did, and that was the phrase; 'Bring a brick not a cathedral'. Let me explain...

First let's take a look at the phrase itself. Bring a brick...NOT a cathedral, the basic meaning behind this phrase is that you want to go in to a sales conversation or any conversation for that matter, with a brick to build with instead of a cathedral that has already been built. Let's put it another way; when you go into a conversation with anyone you should go in looking to build a relationship instead of using a pre-made script to customize and cater to your counterpart's needs. This allows both parties involved to get to know each other on a more personal level thus in turn making communication flow smoothly. This theoretic view can be applied in a sales setting as a salesperson or a customer, adversely it can be applied in a personal setting as a spouse or to children. If you open yourself up to options things tend to go more smoothly than if you come into things with a preconceived notion as to how things will go.

Next time you go to make a purchase, do your research and know what you expect but leave the expectations at the door. Each customers situation is different just as each salespersons situation is different. Once you are able to open yourself up to ideas and options that you had previously ruled out...you may find the best option is the one that you had not explored!

#sales #salespeople #customers #conversation #brick #cathedral #realtionships #communication