The Relationship Edge: The Key to Strategic Influence and Selling Success, Third Edition

PREFACE

This book originally came about because a group vice president at Pfizer asked me to give some thought to ways sales representatives could spend more time with their customers.

In the pharmaceutical industry, salespeople typically spend only two to three minutes actually talking to a doctor. What can you say in that time? "HiI'mJerryAcuffandIwanttotellyouallaboutournew drug. . . ." It's not very effective. I thought there had to be some way that sales representatives could spend more quality time with prospects, customers, and colleagues.

Thinking about Pfizer's challenge on the plane home, I thought about the unpublished book that my friend Peter Ciano and I wrote. We called it What Momma Never Taught You and we included short chapters on life's great truths—including "If They Like You, You Have a Shot."

Our premise in that chapter was that the quality and richness of our relationships determine in many ways the quality and richness of our lives, both professionally and personally. The more great relationships we have, the more fulfilled we are. Strong relationships are not the only measure of success and happiness, but they certainly help determine our success and happiness.

That caused me to think about the kinds of relationships you could have with another human being. It seems to me there are six possibilities, from people who do not even know your name to those who value a close, personal relationship with you. It was obvious that as you move through these six relationship ...