2/11/2025-Selling your besties

Friends need you to be a capable salesperson as much as you need them to be a loyal buyer. Keep doing the things you did when you were first developing the relationship, and you’ll both benefit.

You work hard nurturing relationships and developing champions…next thing ya know, you and your BFF Buyer are together on a family ski vacation.

But how do you pitch your BFFB on a ski lift?

Correct….you don’t.

There’s a syndrome for getting so close to your buyers that you back off and stop selling. (It’s called the I’m So Close to My BFFB I’m Backing Off syndrome.)

Fight it.

Those friends on the other side of the desk are buyers first.

Unconscious retreating with BFFBs is a real thing, so follow these best practices to help you keep your foot on the gas:

1. Prepare them for designated business discussions: "Do you have ten minutes to talk business this afternoon?"

2. Don’t ignore social situations as a selling opportunity: "Hey, let’s talk some biz before tip-off…then we can yell at the refs."

3. Don’t build 15-slide decks for those unique solutions created just for them…talk with them. Plant the seeds so they can be the hero.

Rule #1 regarding selling to friends: don’t back down.

Selling to friends affords a level of transparency and honesty that don’t exist with your other relationships – that’s gold.

When it comes to meetings, don’t change a thing with your prep: create an agenda for the meeting and send it over ahead of time. Have some fun with it…acknowledge your friendship by inserting an agenda item that refers to their kids’ weekend soccer game.

For all the other stuff, don’t be shy. Did Ya get problems with the account? Get your friend involved. Need the truth about obstacles? Get your friend to work as your agent.

You’ll certainly adjust your tone and approach in the meeting, but you’ve been tap dancing since you started in sales…you got this. Keep your friends close. Full stop.

Recently, an 11-year-old Girl Scout sold 23,219 boxes of cookies by selling first to her friends.

Yes…Charlotte McCourt moved twenty-three thousand boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs. And she did it through an approach that will work for you and your friend buyers.

3-minutes is all it’ll take to learn from this charming young seller.