About the Author: Elinor Stutz is CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, International Author, Sales Trainer & Coach, and Motivational Speaker.

When relatives are involved, it’s all about building and maintaining relationships just as you do with your prospects and clients! So although somewhat inconvenient, we rented a car and did a 24 hour turnaround to and from L.A.
I communicated positively about the entire experience, kept a mindset of “It’s going to be great”, and took a leadership role in the event by baking, as well as co-hosted or collaborated for a successful event. Set-up and clean-up were cheerfully volunteered.
This was an effort to build my brand of “great relative”by conveying positive marketing messages to the guests about the event and people involved. A couple of relatives from the other side of the family are from Mexico. I had a terrific time getting to know them better, and networked or made a few new acquaintances.
The reason I write this is clients frequently ask, “What do sales and entrepreneurial skills have to do with personal matters”? The answer is, “Everything”! When you have the ability to “sell” your endeavors to your family (they cease believing you are crazy) – you then have the confidence to sell to anyone, thus affecting your business development in a positive way.
My advice for today: challenge yourself to begin selling to your most difficult relatives and you will soon be on the path to closing more sales. Even if it isn’t always smooth with some relatives, in business you will soon learn to enjoy the Smooth Sale!

About the Author: Elinor Stutz is CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, International Author, Sales Trainer & Coach, and Motivational Speaker.

Today, I cooked a variety of foods for a number of people, not knowing exactly what their tastes might be. It made me recall a visit my husband, daughter and I paid to relatives years ago, when our daughter was a teenager. We were invited for dinner.

Familiar with how this “eccentric” relative operated, I forewarned Alice to eat a sandwich at the hotel before we went. Alice adamantly refused saying that I was too biased to see the good in our beloved relative. I gave up and off we went.
Do you personally know of any teenager who enjoys eating a meal consisting of microwaved fish and boiled vegetables? As we got back into the car with doors and windows locked, Alice apologized up and down saying she would never argue with me again. She then exclaimed, “That is no way to treat guests – you must always think of them first!”

This is the exact principle of relationship selling – think of your prospects first, and they easily will turn into your clients. Adopt a positive mindset for excellent customer service, build the relationships. This will aid your business development, and you will close more sales. Your marketing message of “caring about others” will be broadcast to everyone your clientele knows. This is the essence of the Smooth Sale!