The Relationship Edge: The Key to Strategic Influence and Selling Success, 2nd Edition

by Jerry Acuff; With: Wally Wood

• ISBN13: 9780470100981
• ISBN10: 0470100982
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2007-03-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Get the relationship edge The Relationship Edge shows you exactly how to build valuable business relationships with people you don't naturally connect with. It presents a straightforward, three-step process that is easy to apply to your work and business. Jerry Acuff provides real-world principles for developing strong and lasting personal relationships with the key people in your business life, helping you become more effective and persuasive while maintaining meaningful, truthful dialogues with those around you. Acuff shows how the more truthful and direct you are with customers and colleagues, the more truthful they'll be with you-and the more likely you are to find meaningful solutions to the business challenges you share. This revised edition includes new information on building and leveraging healthy business relationships, especially how to maintain them over the long term. With real case studies and step-by-step guidance, The Relationship Edge offers the tools and advice you need to develop strong, rewarding relationships with customers, coworkers, and managers. With practical, concrete information on the mechanics of interpersonal relationships in the business world, you'll be well on your way to doing business better and more productively. "A great coaching tool for every sales manager-finally, a book that outlines step by step how to build both strong customer and personal relationships." -John M. Woychick, Senior Vice President, Training, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals "Time and time again, Jerry Acuff's approach to selling has been proven to work. A must-read for those who believe that successful selling is a part of their everyday life." -Georges Gemayel, Executive Vice President, Genzyme Corporation

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Climbing the Relationship Pyramid

Building Relationships Is a Skill

Payback Time in Memphis

Relationships Can Trump Price

Four Fundamental Selling Truths

Meaningful Dialogue Comes with Trust

Climbing the Relationship Pyramid

You Need Knowledge, Integrity, Actions

Key Points about the Pyramid

What Strong Relationships Require

Three Steps to Building a Positive Relationship

Make Self-Fulfilling Prophecies Positive

Think Well of Others (Even the Jerks)

Implement the Process Completely

Learn Strategies, Not Tactics

Set Yourself Apart

Do Unexpected, Unselfish Actions

Building a Relationship Takes Time

Decide Who's Key, Then Do Something

Twenty Questions

Start with a Self-Check

Sharing Creates the Relationship

Learn What Someone Treasures

Thirteen Facts about Human Beings

Let the Other Person Talk

Sell by Not Selling

Start with These 20 Questions

Memorize the Questions, but Think Form

Tell Me Something That Will Surprise Me

Respect Their Time and Opinions

Plan What You Will Ask

Good Questions Promote Meaningful Dialogue

Motives Matter

Setting up a Good Question

Analyze the Bridge to the Question

Preface Your Question

Ask Personal Questions First

Hold up a Book

Don't Suggest an Answer

Learn What Someone Treasures

Make Them Think

Stimulate Real Thinking

Ways to Gain Respect

It 's a Small World After All

Connect for Yourself

Use the Small World Phenomenon

Connect for the Other Person

Connect with Difficult People

Probe for Connections

It 's Not What You Know; It's What You Do

Show You Genuinely Care about Other People

Business Gifts Are Not Unselfish Acts

Be Alert to Opportunities

Do the Right Thing

Why You Ought to Map Your Relationships

Map Relationships with Four Groups

People Inside the Organization

People Outside the Organization

People Important to Your Career

People Who Are Upset with You

Build Relationships Strategically

Pyramid Hopping for Fun and Profit

Pyramid Hopping Is Not Networking

Friendly Is Not the Same as Friendship

Pyramid Hopping in Practice

Pyramid Hopping Requires Questions

Pyramid Hopping Usually Requires Specifics

Build Respect, Set Goals, and Maintain Relationships

Identify Qualities You Respect

Thirteen Ways to Gain Respect

Examples of Building Respect

Set Clear, Written Goals

Visualize What You Want

Set Difficult Goals-But Not Too Many

Be Willing to Pay the Price

You Don't Have to Be Where You Are

Maintain Your Meaningful Relationships

Create Time for Relationships

Help Others to Succeed

Keep the Dialogue Continual

Make Contact When You Don't Need Help

And What If You're The Boss?

The Six Drivers of Business Success

Problems with Command and Control

Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

Problems with Sales Training

Selling Is Learning and Teaching

What Managers Should Be Doing

A Coaching Process for Relationship Development

Build Relationships Routinely, Consciously, Deliberately

Notes

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.