What if the moment when you get your prospective customer to become a customer, as a salesperson, wasn’t actually the finish line? What if that was the starting line? What if that is the beginning and not the end?

The Traditional Sales Perspective:The End or Just the Beginning?

From a salesperson’s perspective, the closed sale is seen as the end. The end of their part in the process. The end of their relationship (for most salespeople) with the customer.

Unless you have a transactional commodity product or service, once the customer decides to buy, it represents the beginning for them. It is a leap of faith for them to trust in you (salesperson), the brand (company), and the product’s claims. They are trusting that hopefully all three of those made promises that will come true.

Short and long term. That what they agreed to buy will do what they need and want from it.

I truly believe this applies to everything that someone buys. When you buy gum, get your oil changed, purchase some new clothes. When you buy software for your business, hire a consultant, buy a plane ticket. There is an expectation of value. Of course, varying degrees of value (Plane ticket > gum). But still the same formula in the buyer’s mind.

The Role of the Salesperson: Focusing on the Long-Term Relationship

For salespeople in most roles where it takes a salesperson – not just an order taker or checkout clerk/person – that customer is then a continuing relationship. They will be interacting with your service or your product for some length of time. If you are in that type of sales role, always focus on the long-term relationship. Even if you will never see that customer again, it doesn’t mean that relationship isn’t there. The relationship is now with the company and product/service.

What can you do to ensure their ultimate success and gratitude for you – that you helped start them on the journey? Where can you play the long game – in all that you say and do?

The Short-Term Trap:Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse

I see so many salespeople who think short-term, about themselves, their goals, their need to close a deal, their commission targets/drives. So they do what they need to, to close that sale. They over-promise the benefits and value, under-sell the downsides and tradeoffs, they focus on whatever it takes. That is the single greatest source of buyer’s remorse, which I wrote two chapters about in Selling With Authentic Persuasion: Transform from Order Taker to Quota Breaker (buy now) – one about why it happens, and one for what you can do to mitigate/lessen it.

Conclusion

When in doubt, play the long game in the sales process you follow, the expectations you set, the details you give, and what you think about your prospects. Do the right thing with a long-term mindset, and your clients, company, and paycheck will thank you!