Transactional vs. relational selling

- Recently my wife and I decided to move our personal banking to the same bank that we have our businesses with. We have a great relationship with our business banker, and although we'd be dealing with someone new on the personal side, we thought it would make more sense to have everything under one roof. Now I could have simply read online about what accounts or additional services we needed and signed up, but I wanted to better understand what options were available for us, so I set the meeting with a personal alliance banker. Within the first five minutes of our meeting I was amazed at the stark contrasting differences between our business banker and this new personal banker, and not in a good way. She was cold, short with responses, and simply wanted to read us off a list of facts and their products, and to upsell us into products anyone could see that we didn't need. In fact, if I didn't have such a good impression of the bank by dealing with the business side, I would of literally walked out and kept my accounts with the old bank. What is it about these contrasting styles that has such a dramatic impact on us as buyers? It's the concept of transactional versus relational communication. Let me explain further. When a salesperson communicates and operates from a transactional perspective, it subconsciously communicates to the buyer that they just don't really matter. It sends signals that the salesperson is really only interested in making the sale, or of gaining the transaction. In contrast, a relational salesperson is highly skilled in interpersonal communication, and understands that the buyer seller relationship is the primary vehicle that will build trust. The relational salesperson is typically a great listener with high empathy and connecting skills. They make the buyer feel like they actually care about them as a person. They come across to the buyer that the relationship is more important to them than the sale. Typically the more complicated or involved the product or service is, the more critical it is that a salesperson is relational versus transactional. However, in my experience even in the commoditized product world, it's the salespeople with the deepest relationships that have the must success. Let's look at the characteristics of the two types, and as we go through them, I want you to honestly critique yourself as a salesperson to see which category you might lean towards. Transactional salespeople make idle chitchat in the beginning of a sales meeting, but quickly attempt to turn the conversation to the products they sell. In contrast, relational salespeople take the tile to genuinely get to know the buyer, and have personal conversations that allow them to be perceived as caring, honest, and trustworthy. Transactional salespeople tend to ask leading questions in a veiled attempt to lead the buyer into their net so they can jump on them with all the facts and figures of their product. In contrast, relational salespeople ask insightful questions that help the buyer uncover all the various aspects of their issue, and the true impact the issue's having. Transactional salespeople tend to follow the ABC Always Be Closing sales model, which tends to make the buyer uncomfortable, and usually leads to distrust. In contrast, relational salespeople tends to also follow an ABC model, but theirs is Always Be Connecting. They're continually demonstrating care, connection, and empathy with the buyer, and a genuine desire to help them solve their problem. Transactional salespeople sell what they have to offer, whereas relational salespeople sell why they do what they do, and why it matters to the buyer. So how'd you do on the evaluation? As a salesperson it's hard not to be transactional. Relational communication requires us to be continually focused on the viewing the world through the lens of our buyer. If you do, you will notice a stark improvement, not just in your ability to connect, but in your sales results.