Some of the best lessons in entrepreneurship come from the people who have been in the game longer than we. For me, that person is my grandfather. While he was still around he taught me a lot about business and life.
Grandparents often have a special perspective about work ethic and how to build meaningful relationships with people professionally and personally. Grandparents have seen it all, and just because their careers happened in an earlier era doesn’t mean their lessons are irrelevant. Some of the most important sales techniques and life lessons from my grandfather’s sales career are still valid and valuable today.
Here are five lessons about B2B sales that I’ve learned from my grandfather:
1. Don’t rush it.
One of the first lessons my grandfather taught me is that you have to be patient if you want to make sales. Keep in mind that it takes time to close a deal. The more complex and high-dollar B2B sales deals might take 16-18 months to close. Putting pressure on prospects will only slow things down or end the discussions.
Be patient and keep perspective. Build a relationship with the team you’re working with. Don’t treat people like transactions. Treat every sales deal as a unique learning process that you can get something out of along the way. Enjoy the journey as well as the destination.
2. Talk to people.
Nowadays, everyone is using social media, email and digital sales tools, mostly to avoid speaking to each other. Digital tools can definitely be helpful, but take a page from my grandfather’s sales playbook, and start your sales process by picking up the phone. My grandfather liked to talk on the phone and valued the human touch. People in his generation didn’t have email, so they used the phone just to chat and connect.
One of the biggest surprises of working in sales in 2017 is that the phone…
