Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1515304
36 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2024 Feature Article by Dan Feinberg Many years ago, I was a regional sales man- ager for a well-known supplier, and we had one of the world's largest PCB fab facilities in our region. Part of my responsibility was to prove our product to that fab's process engi- neering team. Our product happened to be red, while the fab was using our competitor's product, which was blue. Just as we were suc- cessfully building a very good relationship with this company, the competing sales team said or did something to anger the responsible process engineer. I was soon informed that they would change to our product. e engineer said, "I can see my room turning red." I attribute this change to a well-built relationship spiced up with a little good timing. e first step for a sales team is to directly interact with the targeted customers, con- verting the leads (created by advertising and research done by the marketing team) into sales. Marketing is the first chapter, and sales is the rest of the story. Get to know the customer and build a relationship with the key decision- makers, be they process engineers, purchasing agents, or just about everyone in between. It is important to recognize that sales and marketing are related but not the same. I find it interesting that some people are not aware of the difference. e confusion is under- standable in that the goal of both functions is to enter a market with a product and/or ser- vice and gain sales. One of the ways I learned to Relationship Selling Never Grows Old