If you asked most non-sales people to describe a salesperson, they would probably describe your typical super slick wide-boy, with a gift of the gab and a ‘never take no for an answer’ mentality. That might be the case for some salespeople, but it’s definitely not all.

In fact, I’d say that stereotype has long since been a thing of the past. The majority of salespeople I have come across are intelligent, articulate and genuinely believe in the value of the products and services they are selling. They have to. B2B prospects are way too busy and way too knowledgeable about many subjects, to be taken for a ride by someone trying to push their way over the line.

Yes, it does still happen, but in the era of 24-hour news, review sites and social media, most people can find out within 60 seconds whether a person and the company they represent are worth bothering with.

Invasive sales techniques are great at achieving one thing – getting on people’s nerves. The creme-de-la-creme of prospect alienators is cold-calling. But, junk mail and email spam are just as successful in hacking people off.

The problem is, they almost never give the prospect an opportunity to breathe and they rarely make them feel special. That is what it takes to build a positive relationship. Showing someone that you are genuinely interested in them and not wasting their time with information that doesn’t deliver any value, or respect the lack of time they have.

Building positive business relationships with someone who doesn’t know about you also demands that you are clever enough to realise, that despite all your efforts, there is a pretty decent chance that the person won’t give two hoots. But you know what, that’s OK. You just need to find the ones that really care.

Humility, brains and respect. That’s the real recipe of the modern salesperson.