The old saying goes something like this: "People do business with people they like." To like them, you've got to know them.
How are you doing at developing your network of friends and business contacts? Your answer to that question could well determine your future success as a sales professional.
To make the most and quickest progress in sales and business, do the following three things:
1. Cultivate business friendships. Have at least a dozen friendly relationships with peers - in your immediate business, in your industry, and in other, related businesses. Don't try to exploit those relationships. Do the opposite: Always try to extend the first helping hand.
2. Develop at least three mentor relationships. That is, get on a first-name basis with three people who are smarter, better connected, more knowledgeable, and generally more advanced than you.
3. Create relationships for the longer-term future. Make contact with people you'd like to know when you reach your career goal - the lawyers or teachers or congressmen who will be helpful to you then. Again, develop the relationship now as one in which you are the giver.
The secret is to be seen as someone who is likeable, helpful, and useful. If you can fill up your Rolodex with people who have such an impression of you, you'll have plenty of loyal friends out there watching your back and pushing you along.
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