Matthias Murges Thesis Relationship Selling

Relationship Selling –
The future standard in sales approach and how
to successfully apply it

A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of European University
In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The Degree:
Bachelor of Business Administration

By:
Matthias Murges

January 2012
I

Executive Summary

This Thesis is about how the selling approach is changing in our actual environment
and how it will develop in the future. The need of great service for successful
business in the future will increase and I have researched on how this goal can be
accomplished.

Over time, the Sales industry has gone through a lot of changes and will keep on
doing so. Differentiation through products and prices will decrease over time, as
products are easy to copy and prices easy to adjust. This will lead to a non-
monopolistic market place where the business with the lowest cost will make the
greatest profit margin in the end. But is this the way you want to operate your
business? With fear, of making too much loss, when investing in research and
development departments? A stagnation of the innovation process throughout every
market? This will not take anybody a step further.

Hence, we need to think of alternatives about how to adjust or improve our way of
promoting, marketing and selling our products.

This is where the concept of relationship selling comes into place. This sort of sales
approach makes a huge difference in the perception of the products, the business
and the employees of that company. I could experience that through my internship at
a US company.

Therefore, this Thesis has been written to describe the tools which you can use to
easily apply relationship selling to your day to day business actions, so that you are
always a step ahead of your opponents. This enables companies to prevent exactly
what I mentioned above – stagnation of research and development. Hence, decline
in economic growth and human advancement.

II

Table of Contents

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………….1

2. Selling and Relationship Selling…………………………………………….1-5
2.1 Characteristics of the traditional Sales Industry……………………….2
2.1.1 Simple Exchange……………………………………………………..2
2.1.2 Marketing Products…………………………………………………..3
2.1.3 Service……………………………………………………………….3-4
2.2 Relationship Selling……………………………………………………….4-5

3. Different tools used for successful Relationship Selling……………..6-43
3.1 Neuromarketing…………………………………………………………..6-16
3.1.1 What is Neuromarketing? ...........................................................6
3.1.2 Why do clients buy? …………………………………………..........7
3.1.3 How does brain research help to
understand your clients better?.................................................7
3.1.4 Emotions and Motives………………………………………………8
3.1.5 The unconscious logic of products and markets………………9
3.1.6 How purchasing decisions are really being made……………10
3.1.7 Brain types……………………………………………………….11-17
3.1.7.1 Traditionalist………………………………………………...13
3.1.7.2 Harmonizer…………………………………………………..14
3.1.7.3 Enjoyer……………………………………………………….14
3.1.7.4 Hedonist …………………………………………………….15
3.1.7.5 Adventurer…………………………………………………..15
3.1.7.6 Performer……………………………………………….......16
3.1.7.7 Disciplinarian……………………………………………….16
3.1.8 Connection to Relationship Selling…………………………….17

3.2 EVA ………………………………………………………………………18-30
3.2.1 Explanation…………………………………………………………18
3.2.2 Hermann Dominance Instrument……………………………19-24
3.2.2.1 Different Types…………………………………………19-21
3.2.2.2 How to identify them? .............................................22-23
III

3.2.2.3 Medium to approach the target………………………23-24
3.2.3 Emotional Selling Approach (EVA)…………………………25-30
3.2.3.1 The 9 stages…………………………………………….25-30
3.2.3.1.1 Atmosphere has to be right! .............................25-26
3.2.3.1.2 Increase your emotional Energy! ..........................26
3.2.3.1.3 Call people by their names! ...................................27
3.2.3.1.4 Offer your personality to them! .............................27
3.2.3.1.5 Start to entrap people! ...........................................28
3.2.3.1.6 Make compliments! ................................................28
3.2.3.1.7 Offer support! .........................................................29
3.2.3.1.8 Become indiscreet! ...........................................29-30
3.2.3.1.9 Get Feedback! ........................................................30
3.2.4 Connection to Relationship Selling…………………………...30

3.3 Storytelling………………………………………………………………..31

3.4 Structogram…………………………………………………………..32-38
3.4.1 Explanation……………………………………………………32-33
3.4.2 Different Behaviors…………………………………………..33-35
3.4.3 Buying Motives……………………………………………….35-36
3.4.4 Buying Resistance……………………………………………….36
3.4.5 Buying Influence…………………………………………………37
3.4.6 Connection to Relationship Selling……………………….37-38

3.5 CRM  CMR…………………………………………………………..38-44
3.5.1 Definition…………………………………………………………..38
3.5.2 Explanation of CRM and it’s failure……………………….38-39
3.5.3 CMR System…………………………………………………..39-40
3.5.4 CRM vs. CMR………………………………………………….41-42
3.5.5 Reasons for Failure of CRM………………………………..42-44

4. Internship………………………………………………………………….45-46
5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………...47-48
6. Bibliography……………………………………………………………….49-50

IV

List of Tables

Table 3.1 Different Behaviors, Structogram……………………………………... p. 34
Table 3.2 CRM vs. CMR……………………………………………………………p. 41

Figure 2.1 Stages of Relationship Selling…………………………………………. p. 4
Figure 3.1 Brain Systems………………………………………………………….. p. 10
Figure 3.2 Brain Types Distribution Germany…………………………………… p. 12
Figure 3.3 HDI Types……………………………………………………………….. p.19

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1. Introduction

Making the difference, trying to outplay competition, competitive pricing, increasing
productivity these are all goals companies try to accomplish in order to make the
difference.

But does the difference really lie on the products and their prices offered nowadays?
Or is there something else that really matters and influences buyers to purchase?

My research is based on the convincement that it is all about the service you offer
and the relationship you maintain with your buyers.

Under this assumption my thesis is about:

Relationship Selling – The future standard in sales approach and how to
successfully apply it

2. Selling and Relationship Selling

The selling process has been around for thousands of years. Egyptians, Romans,
Greeks all the ancient big nations/countries and people we know about practiced the
art of selling. If it was just a cow against two pigs or a ring for bread and milk, selling
has been an essential process of everybody’s life since all time.

But sales has been developing up until now and will probably keep on developing for
quite a while, as human needs and perception changes with time. Therefore, the
characteristics of the sales industry have been changing as well over time.

Sales – an industry, which has been going through several different stages of
development, currently reaches its peak in terms of skills needed and natural
talent/being required. The job of a salesman is not anymore just turning up at
somebodies house, office or company and telling that person about how good your
product/service is and leaving again. It is much more about making the difference
between you and your competitors, as nowadays there is hardly any differentiation
between the individual products from different companies, because it is easy to copy

1

or almost identically reproduce the product of another company without breaking the
law.

Hence, the key in nowadays sales world lies in you relation with the buyer/s and how
you improve and maintain this relation, so that is it not just a pure sales transaction,
but more like a continuously developing friend- and business oriented relationship.

Relationship Selling is “establishing a long-term customer relationship in an effort to
generate repeat business. Relationship selling may be directed at especially
important customers and may include a liberal return policy and access to high-level
executives.”1

2.1 Characteristics of the Sales Industry

If you look at the traditional marketing approach you can see a lot of differences to
the relationship selling approach. Not just because the traditional one is transaction
based, or focused on single sales, but also because the aim is to keep seeking for
new customers and persuade them about your product and your company in general.
It is the complete opposite of Relationship selling, where you are trying to establish a
long term relationship with the client, which is based on trust and regular
communication – great Service.

But this change of the selling process has been developed over centuries, where
people started of exchanging goods for other products that they need. No sign of
service at all. But it developed as shown below.

2.1.1 Simple Exchange:

Like mentioned above, people used to sell products by offering them things in
return which they needed. If it was gold, animals, herbs, food, drinks, etc.

The buyer mentioned his interest and a couple of sellers came by and made
their offers in terms of what they wanted in return and the buyer made a
decision in order to which one he was going to choose.

1
Relationship Selling: http://business.yourdictionary.com/relationship-selling
2

2.1.2 Marketing Products:

Later on people realized that it would be much easier if any seller would just
market its products and potential buyers would come by and purchase those
things. Like on markets or just in their stores. Hence, shops have been opened
and people tried to build their own identity.

This kind of selling evolved up until now and has been broadened and used in
all sorts of medial/merchandise tools. Whereas in earlier stages,
promotion/marketing ran more through newspapers, billboards and word of
mouth, today we are more into Television, Radio and especially Internet
advertisements, as those reach a far wider range and are most commonly
used in nowadays society. With television, radio and internet you can reach
almost every age group, with the ability to differentiate perfectly due to
different people with different needs, interest and age are visiting/watching
altered websites and TV-channels. But the point I was going to make here was
that you are simply promoting the product you are trying to sell. There is no
sign of any service noticeable.

2.1.3 Service:

Intangible products such as accounting, banking, cleaning,
consultancy, education, insurance, expertise, medical treatment,
or transportation.
Sometimes services are difficult to identify because they are
closely associated with a good; such as the combination of a diagnosis with
the administration of a medicine. No transfer of possession or ownership takes
place when services are sold, and they (1) cannot be stored or transported, (2)
are instantly perishable, and (3) come into existence at the time they
are bought and consumed.2

2
Service: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/services.html
3

This way of treating customers has been around for a long time, but was never
really appreciated by the society until the last couple of decades. This is when
service really started to matter and companies/shops initiated the focus on it.
But still, from my point of view, there are massive differences between service
and service. You can either offer service by satisfying all the customer’s needs
as good as possible, or you can satisfy the customer’s need and improve or
maintain the relation. This is where the difference is going to be really visible to
the consumers and will be appreciated very much in the long term.

And that’s where relationship selling starts.

2.2 Relationship Selling

Figure 2.1 Stages of Relationship Selling

3

This Diagram indicates the different levels of understanding you will have to meet
before you can successfully apply the concept of relationship selling. As shown
above, the foundation of any selling process – not just in relationship selling – is to
have a good service or product that you want to sell.

3
Relationship Selling, http://www.wabccoaches.com/bcw/2008_v4_i1/images/trailer-figure3.gif
4

Then there is the ability to show that you actually know everything about the
application and functionality of the product you are trying to sell. These competences
should make you already a preferred supplier.
To take this whole concept to another level you will also need to understand the
customer’s business though, as well as his/her/its industry. If you do so, you should
be able to see and understand the organizational issues which will lead you straight
away to a solution based selling basis on which you can easily built your relationship
with the client. Understanding those things makes you an asset to your customer and
not an annoying sales person that just wants to hit his/her number. It makes an
impression as if you are operating as a partner to the business so it turns out to be a
win-win situation.

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3. Different tools used for successful Relationship Selling

I will describe on the following pages some of the new tools that companies are using
to change their selling methods, transforming them into relationship selling.

3.1 Neuromarketing

3.1.1 What is Neuromarketing?

Neuromarketing deals with the purchase- and choice decision of the human brain,
and especially to what extent and how you can influence them.

To answer this focused marketing question there are two main definitions – one
which is narrower and the second one from a wider perspective.

The narrow definition is closely linked to the “Brain Scanner” or scientifically correct
speaking “Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging” (FMRI). It is being directly
related to the practices of brain research for market research purposes.

A more commonly used name for Neuromarketing is “Neuroeconomics” or
“Consumer Neuroscience”.

In the broader definition Neuromarketing receives a more global view, as it relates
the usage of Neuromarketing to a wider variety of awareness’ in the brain analysis. It
also includes the above mentioned theory/definition, but it tries to include and
integrate all marketing theories and practices known nowadays.

The brain research has come up with many very interesting and important mysteries
that could help enormously when trying to apply good marketing.

So the connection you see here to relationship selling is, that you will have to
understand the psychology of the human brain and identify the different mechanisms
used by different clients/decision makers in the company so you can apply the best
marketing and selling strategy possible.

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3.1.2 Why do clients buy?

So the first question you should ask yourself is – why do client buy?

Well by just reading this sentence it looks pretty easy to find an answer to this, but
there is more behind it than just a need, that this client has at that time.

Until a couple of years ago, people used to analyze buying habits and purchasing
reasons by census and monitoring. This way, analysts found out connections
between the two and could therefore include people into different categories that
identify the different characters of managing their purchases.

Since recent years, the above mentioned way of purchasing habits identification has
been used more frequently and has come to significant outcomes.

3.1.3 How does brain research help to understand your clients better? (Coca-
Cola vs Pepsi)

A study in the year 2003 has been done by Coca-Cola, where they made people try
both Coca-Cola and Pepsi without them knowing which one they are currently
drinking. While those people drank the drinks they were connected to a brain scanner
which measured the brain activity and the different areas that are being activated or
not. In the blind test both had the same outcome, as the front brain showed a lot of
activity. This indicates that the brain is being satisfied, as the body is receiving
something sweet tasting, which is considered a treat for the body/brain.

Afterwards, they did the same test again, but the volunteers knowing which one of
the two they are currently drinking. Very interesting was that when they were drinking
Coca-Cola, the middle- and great brain showed activity as well. With Pepsi it was the
same as before.

This indicates, that the brand image of Coca-Cola is better received than the one of
Pepsi and that those little things, like brand name and brand recognition make a
huge difference.

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3.1.4 Emotions and Motives

Up until now, emotions and motives had been very closely linked and considered
almost the same, as brain analysts rather speak about emotions and psychologists
prefer to use the word motives in respect to the same thing.

Brain analysts say that behind each emotion there is a goal that is meant to be
achieved. Psychologists say that motives are closely related to feelings, which leads
to a change in body and mimic – one of the greatest indications of people feelings
about something.

Hence, in the Coca Cola example people had more reaction in their brain as soon as
they knew that they were drinking Coke as they relate this brand to happiness and
satisfaction. This image has been created by Coca Cola over many years, by
adapting their slogan always in relation to happiness and satisfaction in any way.

- Life begins here
- Twist the Cap to Refreshment
- Open Happiness
- Make it real
- Life tastes good
- …

This example shows how brand image and perception make a huge difference in the
mind of the customer. A huge difference because of what the customer’s brain
relates to the product.

So as soon and as long you understand the customer and how he/she is thinking you
should find only little difficulties when dealing with them.

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3.1.5 The unconscious logic of products and markets

The product- or service value is being determined by the positive or negative
perception the client has towards it. Perception is created by motive- and emotion
fields inside the brain. The markets and products have an unconscious logic which
consists out of several motive- and emotion fields and need to be understood in order
to reach out to a customer.

The question you have to ask yourself is: Why do people purchase products?

Well, obviously because they receive some sort of benefit from it like a car, for
instance. You purchase a car to get from A to B. Or you buy a drill machine to get a
hole in the wall. This all describes the functional use of them. This is very important,
but the real value of a product/service is determined by looking at it from the point of
view of his motive- and emotion field.

Products almost always activate certain motive and motion fields, without the client
even knowing about it. And only if a product/service suites the customer’s motive and
motion systems receives the product some sort of value to the customer.

So if we stick with the drill machine, it is obvious that it is used to drill a hole in the
wall.is the functional use of it. But the drill machine has another, maybe even more
important, function – it saves strength and energy and on the other hand it gives the
user more power. This feeling of power and supremacy is the real value of the drill
machine (concrete is easy to break). The more power and the stronger the machine
the more value it is to the user. Hence, the dominance part of the brain in therefore
connected with the purchase of a drill machine.

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3.1.6 How purchasing decisions are really being made

- 70-80% of all out decisions are unconscious and even the remaining 20-30%
are far more unconscious than we think
- Just 0.00004% of all information from our surrounding reaches our
consciousness. Many amenities and signals are being transferred to attitude
by the brain, without the client even realizing.
- All fundamental decisions made by a client are emotionally. Decisions without
emotional components are insignificant

Figure 3.1 Brain Systems

Limbic Types

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3.1.7 Brain Types

Customers have different needs, preferences and wishes. They can be classified into
different prototypes in order to give you (seller) a better overview about the situation.
If you then, concentrate your product, brand and argumentation onto that prototype
you will gain the customer’s loyalty without a doubt.

Another question we should answer here before proceeding though is why and if
customers have different buying habits.

Yes, they do. This is also very visible by just looking at the code of practice. This
clearly indicates the differences.

This leads us to the question: Do target groups, who show a stable consume scheme
even exists? Or does the purchase of a customer just depend on the current mood,
situation and circumstance?

Several Experts are saying: “target group marketing is out due to the multi-optional
and hybrid client. The consume schemes are almost identical with each client. They
only differentiate in respect to their current mood and need.”

However, this cannot be 100% correct, as there is for instance a difference between
tea drinker and red-bull target groups. There are many older people who like tea, but
not so many young ones. The same is the case with red-bull. Many young people
drink it to get a coffin-kick out of it. But not many older grandmas do the same.
Hence, obviously there are consuming schemes.

In respect to the mood mentioned above there is the example of people who smoke.
Smokers go from 14-over 100 year old people throughout every country and every
gender. Many of them light up a cigarette after stress situations. So the reason for the
consumption was the mood.

These examples refer to the already known justifications for this – trait and state.

11

To distinguish better between customers and how to approach them you can divide
them into groups with different emotion key points. (The percentages are from
Germany)

- Traditionalist (24%)
- Harmonizer (32%)
- Enjoyer (13%)
- Hedonist (11%)
- Adventurer (3%)
- Performer (6%)
- Disciplinarian (10%)

Figure 3.2 Brain Type Distribution Germany

Breakdown Brain Types

12

This breakdown could vary a little bit from country to country, but this is more or less
a guideline and I don’t really want to go into detail about the percentages but more
about the different categories.

3.1.7.1 Traditionalist:

The right part of the brain (pessimistic) is a little bit more active. Noradrenaline and
stress hormones are a little bit higher than average, GABA lower. GABA (Gamma
Amino Butric Acid) takes fear away. In case of too little GABA depressions are very
common.

Traditionalists check everything in great detail and spend a lot of time with details.
This is particularly due to the noradrenalin in there brain. It leads to a high focus in
the great brain and deletes background information.

Due to the supremacy of the balance system, traditionalists are frightened,
precautious and reluctant towards new things. His consume and purchasing habits
are also pretty stable. He is the prototype of a loyal customer, who sticks with a
company or shop for a long time. He orientates himself mainly in respect to what
other people do and common sense. Brands give him a secure and trust feeling. His
relation to prices is more reluctant towards bigger spending though, as he relates it to
potential risk. Due to his frequent lack of confidence, he needs outstanding service
and advisement. Local goods will be found most commonly in his trolley and visits of
doctors are very prevalent.

13

3.1.7.2 Harmonizer:

This is a very important type when trying to better understand the female client as
well. The relation to the Traditionalist can be found in the fact, that the Balance
System is the main player in his brain. The difference between the two is though, the
social modules “bonding” and “care”, which are very pronounced. Especially the
Social-, Cuddle Hormone (Oxytocin) will be found in higher concentration with his
type. The Harmonizer is also very cautious, but more open for others and other
things. Very Important: the feeling of security and harmony within the family.
Especially things for garden, home, kitchen and animals gain great interest for
him/her.

3.1.7.3 Enjoyer:

Opposite to the Traditionalist and Harmonizer, whose front right part of the brain is
really active the Enjoyer uses both sides equally. Dopamine is the nerve transmission
substance for the Stimulation-System and is mainly found in the left part of the brain,
whereas the Balance-System and its substances more commonly appear on the right
side.

Other than with the Traditionalist, who shows a skeptical and more pessimistic
attitude, the Enjoyer’s main qualities lie in his open minded and positive life style. He
loves products which guarantee a high amount of pleasure and enjoyment. Quality
and natural production are still of a high priority to him (due to Balance-Part), but the
enjoyment needs to be included. Cosset and being cosseted is his device. Brands
that promise adventures are his target and he is very contact friendly. But also his
family cannot come too short.

The Price is not his main criteria, but he still aims for getting as much enjoyment out
of as little money as possible. He has a very positive attitude towards his health and
enjoys wellness and services that offer comfort.

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3.1.7.4 Hedonist:

This name comes from the Greek word “Hïdonï” = fun, happiness, enjoyment, delight.
In this type of person reigns the Stimulation-System and therefore like already
mentioned above, the Dopamine. This leads to the fact, that the left side of the brain
is more active. He rather combines and connects things he already learnt than
thinking too much about new ways. He is always looking out for new stuff and how he
can pleasure himself. Hedonists are very commonly found in addiction treatment
stations in hospitals. The loud, outstanding and extraordinary are important to him.
Where the product or service comes from does not really matter as long as it is new
and different. He is the classified example of an “early adopter”, who always wants to
have the latest things and trends. Hence, his attraction towards fashion is over
proportional. But also when looking at new exotic fruits or other food coming out he
will be one of the first to try it out. Another important to know characteristic of his
purchasing style is that he is very impulsive and buys a lot and often unnecessary
things he does not even like. His loyalty could be better and he is not very open to
advice. This is due to his very optimistic character, which kind of eliminates the risk in
many things.

3.1.7.5 Adventurer:

The same as with the Hedonist and a little bit of the Enjoyer, the Adventurer has a lot
of Dopamine in his brain. This is being combined with another very common hormone
in his brain – testosterone. Testosterone is the male hormone for sexuality and
dominance. Hence, a very active left brain side. But other than with the Hedonist,
whose aim is enjoyment, has the Adventurer a fiercer attitude. To assert oneself, and
demonstrate supremacy is his world. Faster, better and stronger: The product quality
does not matter too much. His priorities are the visible advantages and fun. Loyalty is
equal to zero, as well as his need of advice. Everything he wants and needs to know
has already been researched in the internet. Due to his careless attitude towards
health he enjoys things where he puts his body to the limit. Sports with thrill like
mountain biking or climbing are his interests. Products he is interested in are those
which increase his performance or give him a feeling of freedom. Drinks like red bull,
but also alcoholic drinks are his favorite and he always chases low pricing.
15

3.1.7.6 Performer:

The sexual and dominance hormone testosterone is leading the brain combined with
a strong presence of his left brain. However, other than with the Adventurer, the
happy dopamine component is missing. Testosterone has the characteristics of
activating somebodies ambition and pushing him forward. Whereas dopamine
creates some sort of distraction, testosterone does the exact opposite. A target will
be pushed towards until it has been reached. Products which include cleverness or
promise high status are very welcome by him, as he always wants to show that he is
the best. A great wine does not matter to him because of its taste, but more to
demonstrate connoisseurship in front of friends and colleagues at the dinner table.
He is always after products that demonstrate money, strength and power, but only in
public. For his private use at home he likes to go to discounters and get the cheapest
products possible. Everything that is visible to the outside though, like clothes for
instance will be from the highest quality and best brand.

3.1.7.7 Disciplinarian:

This is another example of a type whose right brain side is more active. But also the
left side is a bit involved as his testosterone component is pretty high.

Due to his pessimistic and distrustful character enjoyment and alteration only play a
small part in his life. He only buys what he really needs. Quality and guaranty are
very important to him do to his nature. He compares prices and takes very long to
come to a decision before he purchases something. Everything that makes the world
more foreseeable is very welcome to him. For instance product test with objective
opinions about them are of great importance to him. Latest fashion is of no interest to
him. All that counts is the pure functionality.

16

3.1.8 Connection to relationship selling

Classifying sellers into those characteristics has great influence on your capability of
doing successful relationship selling.
However, due to the fact, that you cannot just scan the mind of your client in order to
find out what type of characteristics he has you need to be patient and work on a
long-term relationship (definition of relationship selling). Because the longer you
know your client the better you know him and therefore it takes you each day closer
to finding out what type of person he/she is. And as soon as you are pretty certain
about the type of person he/she is you will have a great advantage in comparison to
your competitors who do not value this kind of marketing so much as you will know
how your client reacts and why he/she reacts like that. This gives you the opportunity
to prevent any misunderstanding or uncomfortable situations in the first place and
adds onto your relation with him/her.

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3.2 EVA (Emotionaler Verkaufsansatz/ Emotional Selling Approach)

3.2.1 Explanation

To break down the concept of Brain Types a little bit more, Alexander Verweyen, a
German Business Consultant, came up with the concept of EVA (Emotionaler
Verkaufsansatz), which could be translated to English like this: Emotional Selling
Approach.

In this philosophy, the brain types play a major role, as they need to be identified and
taken care of. Like I already explained above, the Hedonist wants the product/
service to be creative, the Adventurer is looking for action, the Performer values if it
looks like something great, the Disciplinarian is looking for the comfort of the product
and if it fulfills its use, the enjoyer has to see the enjoyment in it and the traditionalist
looks for known things.

If you take for instance a note book and you would like to sell it to all of those types of
people/ brains, you would need to point out different unique selling points or
advantages of it. For the Hedonist you would talk about the cover and that is
available in many different colors, which could be changed all the time. For the
adventurer you would point out that it tells you automatically everything about
weather and if there is enough snow on the mountains to go skiing. The Enjoyer
would be attracted by talking about the fact that it can also play CDs with relaxing
music on it. To convince the traditionalist it would be a little bit more difficult, but
maybe you could say that the typewriter has been sold out. The Performer would
probably be attracted by pointing out that the same model is being used by the
president. And the disciplinarian would be convinced by its advantage of being
portable and useable everywhere with a battery life of more than a day.

Hence, you see that it helps a lot to differentiate clients into those classes, as each
one of them is looking for something else.

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3.2.2 HDI (Hermann Dominaz Instrument/ Hermann Dominance Instrument)

3.2.2.1 Different types

However, the brain is not just dividable into types of people but also into different
occurrences of four parts. Those parts are being distinguished as shown in the
graphic below. This System is called: Hermann Dominance Instrument.

Figure 3.3 HDI Types

4

Those Parts of the brain with different occurrences give you indications for different
types of clients.

Type A: The Rational Type

He is very interested in facts and figures. To convince him you should be well
prepared so you can illustrate him facts, figures and arguments that are logical and
technically possible. Additionally you should use an advanced vocabulary to shown
competence. His decision making model is very abstract.

4
Hermann Dominance Instrument
19

His main question before he comes to a decision is: Do I have/ know all the facts?

He shows positive reaction towards:

- Data oriented contents
- Detailed explanation and illustration of financial and technical aspects
- Reading and working through of instruction manuals
- The rational illustration of the functionality, for instance right at the product or
through graphical annotation

Type B: The Controlled Type

Formal Aspects are what he is interested in. So in case you want to point out
numbers to him, make sure that they are 100% correct until the last digit behind the
point. Spelling mistakes are being spotted right away. Furthermore, he does not like a
lot of risk.

His main question before reaching a decision is: Do I stay in charge/ control?

He shows positive reaction towards:

- Good planning
- Step to step as well as consequent advancement
- Exact and correct calculations
- Organized course of action with reference partner

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Type C: The Emotional Type

Feelings are his main guidance. The social and interpersonal aspects are of major
importance to him. You should point out the communicative, assisting and
relationship supporting side of your offer. Try to convince him with your own passion,
as his decision model is emotional and intuitive.

His main question is: how will be my relationship to others? How can I include a third
or even fourth party?

He shows positive reactions towards:

- Experimental opportunities
- Music
- Linguistic freedom
- Explanations about the effect of the product/ service on for instance
colleagues

Type D: The Visionary Type

He is looking for holistic coherences. He is interest in future, creative opportunities
your product/ service is offering. Maybe draw a picture of the potential hidden in your
offer. His decision making model is dominated by fantasy and risk orientation.

His main question before coming to a decision is: Which opportunities will this offer
bring me?

He shows positive reactions towards:

- Great illustrations of future potential
- Spontaneity
- Experiments
- Pictures, Graphics and Models
- The free flow of ideas and inputs

21

3.2.2.2 How to identify them?

But the question that has to be answered like in all the other tools that I explain is:
How do I differentiate of classify people into those groups. Below you will find some
hints about how to do this by simply looking a little bit closer at your client and his/
her behavior.

The Rational Type:

1. Does he demand facts? Does he want data? Does he like to debate and
argue?
2. In a conversation – is he influenced by subjective-emotional contents? Does
he block?
3. Does he switch to objective matters? Does he want to receive illustration
about financial and technical aspects?
4. Is he trying to stay distant? Does he want to keep the contact frequency low?
5. Is he looking for detailed and straight forward explanations and facts?

The Controlled Type:

1. Is he interested in formal aspects? Does he point out mistakes in letters or
emails when meeting in person?
2. Does he repress details? Spelling mistakes and exact digits after the point are
of importance?
3. Does he demand a huge amount of information and then backs up to plan the
next step?
4. Does he want to be informed about everything in great detail? Is he in a
negative mood as soon as he feels like he has been left out of just a little part
of the whole process?

22

The Emotional Type:

1. Does he constantly divagate? Does he talk about things that are off the actual
topic?
2. Is he interested in your personal point of view? Is he interested in you as a
person?
3. Do you feel like he is influence by you good mood? Does he realize that you
are not in the best mood, although you are trying to be a professional, who
does not show any kind of symptoms?
4. Does he show positive respondence towards details, finesse, optical as well
as esthetic qualities?

The Visionary Type:

1. Is his pretention oriented towards new, extraordinary shapes, colors and
technical finesse?
2. Is he active throughout the dialogue? Does he move his arms and other parts
a lot when talking? Can you identify his willingness and interest by his
gesture?
3. Does he also demand activity from your side? Is he looking for a surpassing
service, which is individual and open for surprises?
4. Is the overall coherence more important to him than the individual details?

3.2.2.3 Medium to approach the target

When concluding the information mentioned above it might also be of great
importance to know through which medium you try to get the message across to the
client.

In the case of having a rational client you should chose mediums like:

- brochures,
- information material,
- letter or
- telephone conference
23

When trying to convince a Controlled Type you might prefer:

- tables,
- diagrams,
- visualizations or
- dialogue

For the Emotional Type:

- emotional conversation
- optionally with a little bit of music in the background

For the Visionary Type:

- tables,
- diagrams,
- active conversation, but not too much

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3.2.3 EVA

3.2.3.1 The 9 Stages

After knowing all this about your client the EVA can be applied. This process has
been split into nine different stages:

1. The Atmosphere has to be right!
2. Increase your emotional Energy!
3. Call people by their names!
4. Offer your personality to them!
5. Start to entrap people!
6. Make compliments!
7. Offer support!
8. Become indiscreet!
9. Get Feedback!

3.2.3.1.1 The Atmosphere has to be right!

Idea: Actively change the atmosphere

Goal: Get your own mood up!

Course of Action:

 Become aware of your (bad) mood
 Ask yourself: “Do I want to carry this mood around all day?”
 Look for a quiet place/ area
 Try to totally relax
 Breathe through deep and slowly
 Imagine a situation that has been very nice/ successful for you
 Go through the whole situation again in your head
 Concentrate entirely on this situation
 OR: simply think about a great event that is coming up in the future (holiday,
Birthday, etc.)

25

Annotation: If you are not in a good mood, you cannot transmit a positive attitude to
other people. Clients/ conversation partners want to be talked to in a positive and
friendly manner. That is why you need to express a positive attitude.

3.2.3.1.2 Increase your emotional Energy!

Idea: Appearance, Voice, Eye and Ear

Goal: to capture and transmit emotions better – also through the phone

Course of Action:

Emotional Eye: Can you see emotions? (Body language, facial expression and
gesture)

Emotional Ear: Can you hear emotions? (Voice, accent, volume, speed of talking)

Test yourself:

How well can I identify other people’s emotions? How sensible is my
perception through Eye and Ear?

How well can I transmit my own feeling and emotions to other people?

Emotional behavior: Is your body language open, friendly and allocated towards
your partner/ client

Emotional Voice: Is your voice emotional? Do you pronounce differently? Is it an
enjoyment to listen to you?

Annotation: through observations you can learn a lot. Take close notice of how other
people show/ don’t show their emotions and try to find out why.

26

3.2.3.1.3 Call people by their names!

Idea: Remember the name of your conversational partner!

Goal: The conversational partner feels like home.

Course of Action:

What differentiates us human all from each other? Exactly – the name. If you do not
understand the name, ask again. If the name is hard to remember, write it down.
Everybody like to be called by his/ her name – very emotional!

Annotation: The names of companion/ partner is as important as the name of the
conversational partner

3.2.3.1.4 Offer your personality to them!

Idea: Instead of US (company) just I

Goal: Bring yourself and not the company into the game

Course of Action:

“We will need to call you back”. How does that sound to you - not very emotional?
Right!

What do you think about this formulation?

“Surely will I take care of your business” or “I will cope with this now and…” Better?

Get yourself into the game and not the anonymous company. Build a relationship
between you and the client. This way you can start to generate trust, which he can
rely and build on.

Annotation: Obviously you cannot disappoint your client. Make sure this does not
happen.

27

3.2.3.1.5 Start to entrap people!

Idea: Approach the Emotions of your conversational partner/ client.

Goal: Win your client with charm

Course of Action:

Persuading or entrapping somebody has the highest rate of success if there is
sympathy between both parties. Sympathy results out of the first impression, same
taste, same opinion, similar use of language, etc.

Try to compensate and apply this when talking to your opponent/ client. This way,
you will get far more success out of each conversation. Where do you see starting
points in the conversation to get a good basis for similar interests?

Annotation: Still remain classy though!

3.2.3.1.6 Make Compliments!

Idea: Try to think of a compliment

Goal: Gain sympathy of your conversational partner/ client

Course of Action:

To give a positive feeling to your client, make him a compliment. Try to point out
individual characteristics

Annotation: A very good way would be to ask, if you may make a compliment.

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3.2.3.1.7 Offer Support!

Idea: Can you do anything for your conversational partner/ client?

Goal: This way you pledge somebody for yourself

Course of Action:

Fast notice of need of aid/ support is ideal to get close to your opponent. But what
kind of help could you offer?

Some Examples:

- Take care of things that do not really relate to the core of the conversation
matter
- Problem recognition, before you partner realizes it; straight offer of solution!

Annotation: Offer your help/ support actively (right away) and do not wait until that
person asks you to help out.

3.2.3.1.8 Become indiscreet!

Idea: Read between the lines

Goal: Get an even closer relation/ connection/ bonding to people

Course of Action:

Ask things that are not directly related to the conversation or business. Questions
about family, children, hobbies, vacation, personal interest, etc.

In the business world, there is not enough focus on these subjects. Often, similarities
or other interesting aspects will appear through these sorts of questions. This will
lead to even more positive emotions in the conversation.

But you always have to see if there is an advantage to your conversation by asking
those questions.

29

Annotation: Do not be afraid of too indiscreet questions. The more you know, the
better you can react to what your client wants. This way he will feel more understood
and valued, which leads to more trust and therefore a better business foundation.

3.2.3.1.9 Get Feedback!

Idea: Acknowledgment after a phone conversation

Goal: Conversational partner thinks about the conversation

Course of Action:

Successful conversationalists build in a sentence at the end, where they are asking
for some sort of feedback about the whole conversation.

This way, the conversational partner can tell you his opinion. Maybe this is even an
opportunity to receive a compliment from the other party – as everybody needs
motivation!

What could be a good phrase to ask for feedback in the end? Think about that before
you hang up the phone or dismiss your conversational partner from the meeting.

Annotation: Also with this Emotional Selling Approach – do not be afraid of using it.
Just give it a try!

3.2.4 Connection to Relationship Selling

If you now relate this back to what I said about relationship selling in the beginning
and what the aim of it is, you can see that this tool brings a lot of key factors with it to
perform successful relationship selling. Like for instance the point about trust and
closeness to you client. This will increase loyalty, which leads to long-term
relationship and business between the two parties – the main aim of relationship
selling.

30

3.3 Storytelling

Another tool to achieve successful relationship selling is the storytelling. This tool
relies on the assumption that our brain does not safe images of objects and actions,
but structures of elements that keep occurring continuously. The magical word here
is “pattern”. Humans are success model of evolution because we can remember,
access, safe and hierarchically align patterns very well.
The metaphor “storytelling” helps us to recognize and realize continuous patterns and
its most common use better and to come up with short stories, romans, or episodes
which entrap people to acquire our ideas service and products. It does not matter if
you are an actor, writer, artist or sales man whoever sets higher standards than the
average person sees structures of structures and patterns of patterns better than
others.
However, even a master in story telling does not exactly know which sort of script the
story will make appear in the consumers mind, but because he knows the basics,
which rely on the neuronal data processing, he can increase the chance of being
able to tell a story that manipulates the consumer’s brain in a way that he shows the
desirable behavior pattern. Additionally, it is known that the start and the end play a
major role of importance in the thought process.

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3.4 Structogram

5

3.4.1 Explanation

Another very useful and commonly used tool to analyze people in order to identify
their habits, ways of thinking, reactions to something and connections in the buying
process is the Structogram. This tool has been designed to identify people’s
characters by arranging them into groups according to their occurrence of the
different brain parts influencing their decision process. Those parts are the brain stem
(indicated by the green color), the interbrain (marked by the red color) and the
cerebrum (shown in blue color). According to their arrangement and occurrence in
the thought process of people, they form different characters. Where the green-
oriented person is rather looking for close contact with people and often refers to the
past and makes a lot of decisions by simply using intuition, as his connection and use
of the unconscious knowledge are of great value and importance. The red-oriented
character is more authoritarian, competitive, dynamic, referring to the presence, a
practical thinker and somebody who likes high amounts of risk.

5
Structogram, http://www.structogram.de/Structogram_RGB.jpg
32

6

Usually, in order to be as accurate as possible, there are certain questions you can
answer to identify your own Structogram. Those questions give indications about how
to move and rotate the Structogram-disk, which leads to clarifying and illustrating
your type of personality.

3.4.2 Different Behaviors

However, you can also apply this tool by using your trained instincts to analyze your
opponent. The differentiation between the three colors can be made by looking at
simply patterns of behavior that people show all the time. These behaviors have been
illustrated in the reconstructed matrix below:

6
Structogram, http://www.powerline-vertriebscoaching.de/powerline/images/structogram.jpg
33

Table 3.1 Different Behaviors, Structogram

Green Red Blue
Brain Stem Interbrain Cerebrum
Sensation Emotion Rationality
Relationship Contact Dominance Distance
to People
 Looking for  Looking for  Looking for safe
human supremacy distance
closeness
 Intuition for  Natural  Abstinence
Human Authority
 General  Aptitude to  Tendency to
popularity competition caginess
Orientation Past Presence Future
according to
time  Building on  Capturing  Compunction of
known moments consequences
 Action  Impulsive  Planned action
through action
experience  Activity and  Pursuit of
 Avoidance of Dynamic advancement
radical
change
Thought- and Sense Understand Arrange
Working  Intuitive  Concrete,  Systematic,
Process thinking, sure practical analytical
instinct thinking thinking
 Authentic first  Fast noticing  High ability to
impression of feasibility abstract
 Fantasy  Aptitude to  Aptitude to
improvise perfection
Success Sympathy Electrify Persuasion
through…

34

So as soon as you are getting a vague idea about which color might be dominant in
this person’s mind you can connect this to another list of how to approach those
clients.

All three show different purchasing motives, which are clearly differentiated. Hence,
after you identified the dominant color, you will know how to approach them.

3.4.3 Buying Motives:

For Red-dominant clients:

- High benefit
- Status Symbol and Exclusivity
- Not complicated
- Emotional

For Green-dominant clients:

- “many people do it like this”
- Security
- Friendly basis
- Personal interest
- Relation to past experience
- Colors
- Stories

For Blue-dominant clients:

- Understanding due to numbers/facts
- Individual
- Future oriented

35

These are some indications of what those types of clients preferred and how you
should approach them to get the maximum success out of it.

But, as well as motives, there are also thing that prevent them from purchasing
certain goods, which is closely related to how you present them as well.

3.4.4 Buying Resistance:


- Too detailed
- Everybody has it already
- Monotone


- Pressure
- Nervousness
- Distrust
- Unorganized


- Open/ unanswered Questions
- Not in great detail

To know what to do and what not to do helps you a lot in becoming a successful
sales person, but it is not just about how the client itself would decide and react to
things. A great part of the decision making process goes through things that influence
this decision and a great deal that concerns this is how you approach and
communicate with this client. The more you know about this the greater success you
will earn later on.

36

3.4.5 Buying Influences:


- Compliment, affirm him
- Show acknowledgement/ recognition
- Repeatedly call him by his name
- Active/ agile language
- Punctuality


- Sympathy, Empathy
- Gets what he wants
- Friendly, kind
- Little gifts
- Service


- Good preparation
- Punctuality
- Calm
- Choice of words/ language
- Distance/ not too much private reference
- Keep promises

3.4.6 Connection to relationship selling

So basically, to sum this up you can say that the red-dominant type likes the newest,
best and greatest products, goods and services, whereas the green-oriented one
puts a lot of value on comfort and service and the blue-dominant is looking for the
special and individual.

37

It is an easy tool to use and apply, but with great impact on your performance. That is
why this technique is spread all over the world and being used by almost all great
companies as well in management positions as in the sales force and all other
departments to create a better environment within the company itself, but also to
make a better impression to the outside (sales).

3.5 CRM to CMR (Customer Managed Relationships)

3.5.1 Definition

“Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely implemented strategy for
managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It
involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business
processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer
service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new
clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back
into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Customer
relationship management describes a company-wide business strategy including
customer-interface departments as well as other departments. Measuring and valuing
customer relationships is critical to implementing this strategy.”7

3.5.2 Explanation of CRM and it’s failure

But many CRM projects have failed over the years. How come that customers offer
so much information about themselves and we still cannot meet their needs and
demands? Companies try to find out what their customers value and use this
information to make them loyal or just a kind of frequent client. This technique has
been moved more and more into the center of company strategies. A survey from
Gartner Inc. says that 52% of their informants put CRM on first priority in their
companies. However, in the year 2001 only every fifth company to use CRM wrote
black digits.

7
CRM, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management
38

They all seemed to have misunderstood a vital point: Whoever wants to build a
relationship needs to understand/see the need first.

Many of those people talk about the “share of wallet”, but what they do not
understand is that they need to find a way into the customer’s heart and head before
they can find their way into their wallet.

The question is though: Why has it not been as successful as is should have been?

One of the main reasons for this is the aspect of control. People like to be in control
of everything they do. So in case they are being given a call by a sales person, they
might feel that they are being pushed into something they do not like. In this case
they go totally against everything the person on the other end of the line says, or they
avoid this sort of contact right from the beginning. This is the reason why catalogues
and brochures are still very much welcome within our society. That way people have
control about if they want to read this information or not. And maybe even more
important they can decide when they want to gather this information. End users have
made clear that they do not want to become a target of a hunt. They simply expect
companies to be there in order to make their life easier and stress less.

3.5.3 CMR System

This is why the CMR system has a different aim. It is not being used to help the
companies but more to favor the customers. The strategy behind it is pretty straight
forward. It demands a change in management and no management of change. The
CMR touches every business and cultural aspect of a company, every relationship
with humans and every technology.

Rather than trying to implement another project or advertising company, the CMR
system is there to bring the relationship between customer and company onto a
whole other level by the standards of the customer.

39

“More power over the client does not mean that you can push or pressure a client
towards something he/she does not like. It means more that clients tell you what they
8
feel is important to them.”

This systems looks like a kind of change in power, as it gives the client the
opportunity to tell the company exactly what he is interested in, what kind of
information he needs, what kind of service standard he would like to receive (like I
mentioned in the Brain Types part: every person thinks different about service) and
through what kind of communication tools they would like to receive this information –
where, when and how often.

This seems to have already found a great amount of friends in the society as the
survey of NCR Teradata from 2001 shows that 80% of the US-Americans would tell
companies more private and accurate information if they would be treated more
individual. And 60% of the informants said that companies, who send specified and
purchasing preferred offers would make their lives easier.

8
At the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers in Internet Real Time, Paul Greenburg
40

3.5.4 CRM vs. CMR

Table 3.2 CRM vs. CMR

CRM CMR

 The Company is in charge  Customer is in charge

 It gives mainly advantages to  It gives mainly advantages to
the Company the user

 In the focus is the trace of  In the focus are the individual
transactions needs of the client

 Clients are being treated as  Clients are being treated as
segments individuals

 Clients are being pushed  Clients tell companies what is
towards things, which the important to them
companies think the consumers
want

 Customers feel like bait  Customers can control the
relationship
 Processes are being aligned  Processes are being aligned
around products and services around the client

1998, Professor Susan Fournier, Professor Susan Dobscha and Professor David
Glen Mick released an article called: “Preventing the Premature Death of Customer
Relationship Management”.

41

The article said:

“Companies claim, that they keep using better and better methods of relationship
marketing. By taking a closer look at it you can see that the relation has been
worsened over time. When speaking to the end users all we hear are bad things
about all the companies out there. They talk about blinding, frustration, insensibility
and manipulation – all in all, they feel like trapped victims. It could be that the
companies are happy the more they learn about their customers and the more offers
they send out which hit almost every taste and needs, but the clients do not seem to
be too glad about it. They do not even have a reason to be.”

Since the release of this article there have no greater changes been made, as people
share the opinion about the fact that technology will make everything go well without
making any changes in the activity, processes or alignment of the companies. But if
you want to accomplish long term success, the first step needs to be made in
changing the processes and philosophy of the business.

3.5.5 Reasons for failure of CRM

This is a list of the nine most common reasons for failure of CRM concepts:

- Organizational Change 29%
- Pursuit of self-interest and lack of support 22%
- Lack of knowledge about the CRM concept 20%
- Bad strategy 12%
- Lack of CRM-Skills 6%
- Low budget 4%
- Software Issues 2%
- Bad consulting service 1%
- Other reasons 4%

None of those reasons give an indication of the problem coming from outside factors.
Due to the fact, that 29 percent of the issues are being caused by organizational

42

changes the main subject that needs to be focused on has to be the company
structure itself.

Hence, important for the consumer orientated relationship management is the
cooperation between processes, humans and technology. Notice, that I mentioned
technology last, due to the reasons claimed above. And this is what CMR aims for.

So when we talk about brands as an example to illustrate the importance of
consumers and their power, it makes it pretty clear that your relationship towards
your customers is the most important thing in business. Because what is actually a
brand? Is it a name, logo, company motto or advertisement slogan? No. it is simply
defined by the perception of a client. The perception the client has towards the brand
and what he connects with it. This means, that brands are founded by the consumer
and are also being erased by them depending on the experience the client gets and
the relationship that is being kept between them. Own experience are definitely of
greater value than advertisements to the client. That is why advertisements only work
when they are being connected to the personal experience of the client. So there is a
little connection to the storytelling, as you are trying to confront the consumer with
patterns they already known and experienced. This makes them feel a lot more
secure about the product or service and creates a relation as they feel more
connected to what they are going to buy. And to be able to do this, you need to get
information from your clients and use them to offer better service to them. Make them
the center of attention. “The consumer is the king” is a sentence you hear from so
many companies, but they are not acting like this at all although they believe so. And
this is where CMR comes into the game. Letting the consumer tell you what they
want and need, so that you can get as individual as possible and thus create a great
relationship.

David Wolfe and Richard Frazier from Wolfe Resource Group in Virginia:

“Most markets are being controlled by clients and not the companies. Clients switch
channels when advertising comes up, cancel business relations with incompetent
companies, leave stores that offer bad service, finish uninteresting phone calls and
are totally in charge of the decision what they will by and whom they will by this from.
We cannot do whatever we want with our brands. We are just administrating them for
their real holders – the clients. The brand value is determined by the preparedness of

43

the clients to pay for it, not by what we want to take out of it. Brands have a
personality. Therefore clients only identify themselves with brands, whose image
suites them. Hence, there is only one way to successfully position a brand: let the
client find himself within the brand.”9

It has been made very visible and clear, by so many experts how important the
relation between client and company is. Even in a system like CRM it was the
weakness in the end so that it has to be adapted in order to be successful in the end.

9
David Wolfe & Richard Frazier, Wolfe Resource Group in Virginia
44

4. Internship

Throughout my internship I came across several different ways of how to do and
apply relationship selling. From very simple and generally known techniques to more
advances once.

To see this sort of marketing/ sales approach being used in real life was the initiator
for me writing about this subject. It fascinated me what huge difference it made when
looking at the perception of the clients.

The company MedWest Associates Inc. represented the medical instruments and
implants of Arthrex Inc., the world leading company in Sports Medicine. And the
recognition they receive within Chicago and the surrounded areas (where I did my
internship) was great. This was probably first of all due to the great products Arthrex
Inc. offers and produces, but like I said before, the product itself will not make the
difference anymore. It is about the service you offer your clients. And that is what
Arthrex Inc. as well as MedWest Associates Inc. realized and tried to accomplish.

So what was first noticable was the friend-based relationship the sales reps built with
their clients. The climate in the OR and throughout the entire hospital was great when
the reps were around. People appreciated them being there and you could see that
they did not just talk about business.

The sales reps invited the doctors and some staff occasionally to dinner, concerts or
sports events where they tried to make them enjoy the company of the sales rep, so
a better relationship was built, which was also based on trust, as a lot of private
matters were being discussed there sometimes.

This showed the appreciation for the doctors being there long-term clients and
hopefully builds up on an even longer collaboration between them.

The long-term relation became very visible to me when I started to notice how many
people in the hospitals related Arthrex to the name Paul Lopez (founder and
president of MedWest Associates Inc.). “I see, you are from Paul’s company, aren’t
you?” is the quote I most frequently heard when entering a hospital. This showed
how much great work he had done in the hospitals long time before he hired people
to do this job for him. I remember a sentence he told me that was something like:
“Even the weakest part in the chain needs to like you, as they might have more
45

influence than you think”. And it was clear that he followed this principle all
throughout his career.

Maybe this sort of relationship selling is not as applicable as the once I described
above, but it is definitely as useful and successful. I would probably say that this
shows the groundwork for successfully applying the tools mentioned above.

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5. Conclusion

A series of new techniques have appeared that will change the sales landscape in
the future. From the information given above it is obvious that changes have to be
made and a certain direction has to be aimed for in order to keep differentiating
yourself from others. The differentiation in products and price will not play a major
role anymore any time soon, as companies can copy products almost identically and
prices can be adjusted up or down due to the major players being able to use huge
economies of scale.

A great example for this could be Apple Inc. They were the first ones to research,
develop and produce a smart phone, also known as the iPhone nowadays. For the
first 1-2 years everybody wanted to have an iPhone not just because only a few
competitive machines were available, but also as the competition was not able to
perform at the standards the iPhone put on the market. However, you can see that it
did not take long for other companies to catch up with Apple Inc. and produce similar
good products.

This is a simple example on how service is the only way to make a difference. But it
is all about the kind of service you are providing. Not only in the industrial marketing
sector but also on the merchandise area there is a great need for the relationship
selling strategy. Building a good relation with buyers gives you a great advantage
over all the competitors trying to sell to this client. You need to give the client the
feeling that you know everything about the industry and his company and also act as
a partner to him not just a salesperson trying to sell a product in order to hit your
numbers at the end of the month. You need to become an asset to the client’s
company and make him want to buy from you.

The tools presented above will help you achieve this goal. My research has
confirmed that these tools are being used more and more throughout the entire world
and have already shown great results. Additionally, I believe, that they are simple to
apply, as many people confirmed that they use them on a daily basis.

Using these tools to your advantage and applying them throughout your whole
working process will make you and much more successful and an ASSET to the
client/ client’s company, like already mentioned above. As soon as you understand
your opponent, why he acts and reacts a certain way, which sort of products he is
47

looking for, what he values a lot and what he does not like at all, you will always be
one, if not two or even three steps ahead of everybody else who is not doing it.

And this will make all the difference – soon.

Just imagine yourself going into a restaurant. You go through the menu and find
something you would really like to eat. To illustrate it better we take tuna and salmon
as an example. You tell the waiter that you would like to have the tuna, but he replies
and says that you should eat the salmon. Maybe you listen to some
recommendations of waiters, but at that day you only fancy to eat tuna. You would
tell him again, that you would like the tuna though and he says again, that you should
eat the salmon. How would you feel? Probably not very comfortable and you would
think about going to this restaurant again twice.

This is a great example of showing how a seller cannot sell what he wants if the client
is not interested. But this is what many sales people try to do. They try to talk their
clients into something they might not even have the slightest interest in. Hence, you
need to understand your client and offer him what he/ she is looking for. Only this
makes you successful, and this is what the tools I mentioned are for
(Neuromarketing, EVA and CMR in particular). Understand your client from the inside
and the outside; combine those and becoming an ASSET to your client by offering
what he/ she needs/wants.

48

6. Bibliography:

Books:

Häusel Hans-Georg, Brain View – Warum Kunden kaufen

Häusel Hans-Georg, Neuro Marketing – Erkenntnisse der Hirnforschung für
Markenführung, Werbung und Verkauf

Häusel Hans-Georg, Emotional Boosting – Die hohe Kunst der Kaufverführung

Gerhard Bittner & Elke Schwarz, Emotion Selling – Messbar mehr verkaufen durch
neue Erkenntnisse der Neurokommunikation

Hermann Sottong, Storytelling – die Kraft des Erzählens fürs Unternehmen nutzen,
Karolina Frenzel, Michael Müller

Frederick Newell, Von CRM zu CMR (Customer Managed Relationships) – Lassen
Sie den Kunden die Beziehung bestimmen

Sam Parker & Jim Gould, Sales Tough – Step up. Work hard. Be valuable.

Structogram International, Schlüssel zur Selbsterkenntnis – Structogram Trainings-
System

Atul Uchil, Relationship Selling: The fine Art of consultative Sales

Jerry Acuff, The Relationship Edge – The Key to strategic Influence and Selling
Success

Andrea Nierenberg, Nonstop Networking: Relationship Selling for personal Success

Jim Cathcart, Relationship Selling – The Key to getting and keeping Customers

Bettina Hagen, Storytelling

49

Anna Stockinger, Neuromarketing - Ich weiß, was du denkst?

Kevin Roebuck, Neuromarketing: High Impact Strategies – What you need to know:
Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors

Norman Albat, Neuromarketing als Teil der Marktforschung – Die Auswirkung von
Marken auf das Kaufverhalten

Internet:

Relationship Selling:

http://business.yourdictionary.com/relationship-selling

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sales/methods/relationship_selling.htm

http://www.relationshipselling.org/relationship-selling/relationship-selling-selling-in-
todays-market

http://www.salesmba.com/articles1/ssrl03.htm

http://communication.howstuffworks.com/sales-technique2.htm

Service: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/services.html

Breakdown: http://www.wabccoaches.com/bcw/2008_v4_i1/images/trailer-figure3.gif

50

Matthias Murges Thesis Relationship Selling

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