"I tell my sales people all the time to take the money out of the equation."

Do healthy sales professionals take the money out of the equation in the relationship between the buyer and seller?

I was having a conversation the other night with a gentleman who owns a number of businesses in Canada. We were discussing what a healthy sales professional looks like. He encourages his salespeople to "take the money out of the equation." He wants them to cultivate a relationship with the prospect and to understand that the benefit they could each receive from this relationship could bear fruit for the client and the business for a long time to come. Reading between the lines, I would paraphrase his statement this way: The money must be tertiary, not primary in the sales professional's mind.

Can sales professionals remove money from the equation? Maybe. There is certainly a robust conversation that could be had around the impact of the commission structure as the primary means to compensate sales professionals. To me, this illustrates how the perennial questions of our lives; Who am I?, Why am I?, Where am I?, inherently shape our approach to sales. Just think, if a sales professional is asking the question of themselves "why do I exist?", will they come to the conclusion that the fundamental reason for their existence is to close deals and earn commissions? I think the answer to this question actually profoundly influences the way in which we sell.

I believe this is what my friend was trying to get at when he said, "Take the money out of the equation." He wanted to remind the sales professionals that the implications of your relationship with the buyer runs far deeper than your pocketbook.

How have you taken "money out of the equation" in your relationship with your prospects and clients?