2/9/2024-Selling to Friends

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 to develop relationships with your customers. Next thing ya know, you and your BFF client are together on a family ski vacation.

But…how do you pitch your client on the 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 Client I’m Backing Off Syndrome.")

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

Never stop nurturing your relationships, but never stop selling, either.

Go through your VIP list today and stop at each name, asking yourself, "Am I unintentionally taking my foot off the gas with this one?"

Unconscious retreating is a real thing, but these best practices will help you keep ’em as clients and friends:
1. Carefully consider your approach to how you initiate business.
2. Don’t ignore social situations as a selling opportunity. Try this, "Hey, let’s talk a little business before tip-off…then we can yell at the refs."
3. Stop pitching them. Lead elevated and strategic conversations with your pals.

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.

It’s improbable an 11-year-old Girl Scout could teach you something about selling to friends…until you learn how she moved 23,219 boxes of cookies.

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

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