How to make a relationship genuine
I work in a professional services industry, so our "sales" is called "business development."
A person who oversees a group of business development reps recently told me his most successful people focus on building a client relationship, versus focusing on primarily just asking clients for work (the "sale").
My struggle is pretending that a relationship is genuine, when i know its really not. Its hard for me to focus on the relationship, i.e. getting lunch with a client and talking about things unrelated to work, when in reality the only reason im doing it is to get a sale in the future. Its difficult for me to try and turn each client into the equivalent of a friend, when we would never be friends if it wasn't for my future financial benefit.
Any tips?