Building and maintaining quality relationships are critical skills for any sales professional. Creating connections, communicating both verbally and non-verbally, and developing and maintaining a referral network are all important components of your sales approach.

Sales techniques have evolved a lot over the past several decades. In the past, many salespeople used a hard selling approach. However, the consultative selling approach has become much more popular with both salespeople and customers.

In this session, you will learn what consultative selling is all about. You will have a chance to think about what each kind of approach might look like and which approach you might prefer. You will also analyze your current activities to identify which ones generate the most results for your time.

Relationships are a tricky business, especially in sales. Some people find it hard to connect with others, while others find it more natural. How do you know what to do to build good relationships with your clients?

In this session, you will learn about the seven key influences that can help you connect with others. You will then identify some characteristics about yourself that might help you build common ground with your customers.

It can be difficult to know how much information to share with clients. When a client talks about a recent family tragedy, should you share your own recent, similar experience? How do you know what is appropriate to share?

In this session, you will learn about what disclosure is and how it can help you build stronger relationships. You will also explore how you can become more self-aware and identify some characteristics about yourself.

We already know that relationships are crucial to being a successful salesperson. It can be hard, however, to get started on the right foot and to know what to do to build a good relationship.

In this session, you will learn about Dale Carnegie. Carnegie was a salesperson in the early 20th century. He developed a system for public speaking and wrote books on how to build positive relationships. You will investigate some of Carnegie's basic principles and how you can apply them in your life.

In every moment of every day, we are communicating through the words we speak, and through our body language. There are two verbal communication techniques that are crucial to sales success: asking questions and listening.

In this session, you will learn about the difference between hearing and listening, and in particular, what active listening is all about. You will also learn how to ask good questions, and you will think about what being a good listener means to you.

In the previous session, we learned about the verbal components of communicating with others. However, most of our face-to-face communication is through body language. To be a successful communicator, it is important to know what message you are sending non-verbally.

In this session, we will learn about the non-verbal components of communication, including body language and voice characteristics. In particular, you will learn about common positive and negative messages that you send when communicating.

The underlying principle of networking is that people prefer to do business with, to hire, or to buy from, people they know. By extending your reach to many people, you can increase your base of potential clients.

In this session, you will learn what networking is all about and what it can do for you. You will also learn some tips for remembering names, as well as the trick to making the most out of your network.

Another important aspect of networking and making good impressions is your handshake. Your handshake says a lot about you, and it's important to cultivate a professional, confident handshake that doesn't injure the other person.

In this session, you will learn about the five factors of a good handshake: firmness, depth of grip, dryness of hand, duration of grip, and eye contact. Then, you will think about your own handshake and what it says about you. Finally, we will talk about business card etiquette.

The ability to make small talk can help us build business, develop our networking skills, get friends, maintain relationships, and even find us jobs. However, some people look down on small talk, and it can be a difficult skill to master.

In this session, you will learn why small talk is so important. You will also learn some important dos and don'ts, plus how to close out a conversation. As well, you will have an opportunity to think about situations where you have successfully engaged in small talk and what lessons you can take away from those scenarios.

We have already talked extensively about communication, including verbal and non-verbal skills, handshakes, and small talk. You have learned how to bring all those elements together to network and extend your business reach.

In this session, you will learn how to keep all those contacts that you make organized and up-to-date. You will also receive some tips on going above and beyond to become even better at networking! A case study and a review of your pre-assignment will help you identify some things that you can do to network smarter.

Now you have completed this course on building relationships, how will you use the material you have learned in the future? Look back at your personal objectives for completing this course. Which areas do you feel could be improved?

In this session, you will be have the opportunity to identify areas of improvement and develop a plan for action. By reflecting on where you currently are and where you want to be, you can solidify, in your mind, what you want your future to hold.