In your relationships with customers, develop the qualities of a close friendship.

Your phone rings, and you pick it up. “Hello,” you say.

“Hi! I represent the Bay City Pest Control Company, and we’re offering a special this week…”

You hang up, feeling a little annoyed that another salesperson is trying to reach into your pocket or purse.

And that’s how we think of most sales- people, isn’t it? They seem only to want to reach into your pocket or purse and grab whatever loot they can lay their hands on.

But there are probably a few salespeople, your favorite ones, who you don’t think of as ever “selling” you anything. For instance, the man at the local hardware store who advises you and helps make your household repair jobs easier. Do you eye him skeptically, wondering what trick he’ll pull next? Of course not. He’s your friend; you trust him and appreciate his suggestions.

That’s how your customers and clients should feel about you. And they will, if instead of acting like a typical salesperson, you act more like a friend: a “salesfriend.”

Identify the qualities you appreciate in a close friendship, and you’ve also got a partial list of what separates the salesfriend from all the other salespeople.

In a close friendship, there is no purpose other than mutual benefit. Both give, and both receive. So it is with salesfriends. They don’t see prospects as dollar signs with arms and legs. They see them as people they can help, and who can, in turn, help them.

Friends also look for and fill each other’s needs. If one is upset, the other will provide comfort. Likewise, the salesfriend looks for the needs of his prospects, not just the desires. That way, long after the sale is made, the salesfriend’s customer is pleased with his or her investment.

And another mark of a close friendship is the willingness to give. Friends give to one another not just because they’re asked to give, but because they WANT to give. It’s the same with the salesfriend who gives all that’s required, and then some. He or she gives a little extra.

How do your clients see you? In their eyes, are you a salesfriend interested in mutual benefit, anxious to fill needs, and willing to give a little extra? Or are you just another salesperson? If, in your relationships with customers, you can develop some of the qualities of a close friend- ship, you’ll find that your rewards, financial and emotional, will increase substantially.