I recently read an article, written by a sales guru about four years ago. The article stated “relationship selling is dead”.  As I read this effort at sales wisdom, I had to smile. Obviously, the fellow who wrote this article has not attended some of the meetings I've been in recently. I've had the pleasure of sitting back and seeing some extraordinary relationship-selling and relationship-buying activity.

The conclusion: Don't believe the hogwash about the death of relationship selling.

There's no question, relationships are changing. This applies to relationships in general and more specifically to sales-client relationships. As an example, I believe it can be much more difficult to initiate sales-client relationships now than it used to be. This is particularly true if “relationship” is framed in face-to-face personal contact. 

For some people, relationship selling has fallen and always will fall somewhere between a challenge and an impossibility. My guess is the fellow who wrote “relationship selling is dead” is one of those people who either has never made an effort to sell or has made an effort and found the work to be somewhere between challenging and impossible. So, writing “relationship selling is dead” aligns very well with that person’s experiences, mindsets and natural talents. In other words, the person lacks the natural gifts that must exist if a person is to succeed at relationship selling. 

The fact is, for many people relationship selling is still alive and well. 

Don't let them hogwash you. Regardless of all the stereotyping and pedantic arguments provided by sales gurus, relationship selling still flourishes with some people. The sales gurus who possess sales ability understand relationships are a critical piece of the sales equation. The sales people who understand this don’t generally parade their sales views – they focus on getting sales done.