Customer’s expectations of sales representatives are changing; people are expecting more from their sales people than simply being order collectors and providing donuts.

Customers are busy. They want the sales experience to be a win-win, meaning it can’t be one-sided anymore. Donuts are not cutting it as an equalizer for giving you their business. Customers want sales people who can help them solve their issues. The only way to get in deeper with a customer is to bring them more value. That means you must expand your thinking beyond how the relationship is good for you.

If you want to sell more, you need more of your customer’s time. Your customer’s time is the most valuable thing you can spend. The only way a customer is going to give you their time is if they see value (something is in it for them). Every sales representative understands when they are being shut out of a customer. The calls don’t get returned, the meetings get delayed, the requests for lunch get turned down. This is the customer voting whether you are providing value to them in exchange for their time.