Stop Closing Deals, Start Opening Relationships
Closing deals gets all the attention. But is that really the endgame? The top sales performers see every sale not as a finish line, but as the start line for something even bigger—a lasting relationship.
This simple mindset shift changes everything. If you’re just chasing the next closed deal, you’re missing the most powerful lever in sales: the relationships that turn good opportunities into game-changers.
Open the Relationship, Not Just the Deal
The old approach looks like this: Hustle to turn a lead into a sale, celebrate the close, then move on to the next opportunity. The best salespeople know better.
The initial sale is just the beginning. The real value is built through every single conversation and the information gathered along the way. Use that intel, not just to land the current deal, but to fuel deeper engagement, greater trust, and more opportunities ahead.
“Stop closing deals. That’s right. I’m telling you, stop closing deals. What I want you to do is I want you to open a relationship instead.”
Stay In Touch With Intention
Staying connected is not about spammy follow-ups or mindless check-ins. It’s about delivering value in every interaction. Frequency matters, but so does relevance. Whether the cadence is every two weeks, once a month, or once a quarter, make sure your outreach brings genuine insight to the table.
Senior-level contacts might require less frequent touch points, but what matters is the impact each one delivers. Bring value, not noise.
Deepen Your Understanding
Every relationship starts with the basics: understanding your customer as a person. Do they have kids? Do they love a particular sport? Real relationships are built on authentic connections, not transactional exchanges.
Ask about their KPIs, their biggest challenges, the goals their bosses care about most. Help them succeed, and you become more than a vendor—you become indispensable.
“The more I can be seen as one who is bringing value to them, the longer and better and deeper my relationships will be.”
Explore Upstream and Downstream
Don’t just learn about your point of contact. Dig into the customer’s company, their competitors, their industry. If they’re publicly traded, read their reports. Understand their supply chain. Know who their customers’ customers are.
This level of research unlocks opportunities to bring insights no other salesperson will. When you can talk about shifts in the industry, supply chain headaches, or emerging competitive threats, you move from salesperson to trusted advisor.
Referrals and Industry Connections
Relationships aren’t limited to direct customers. Referral partners, suppliers, and industry connections deserve the same level of effort. Today’s referral partner can become tomorrow’s customer—or introduce you to your next big account.
The majority of new business comes from referrals, and those connections are rarely accidental. Nurture them. Give referrals freely, and watch as they circle back—often in unexpected ways.
Chart Your Connections
Sales is a long game. The best deals often trace back years and run through multiple connections. Some of the most valuable relationships start far upstream—sometimes with people who never actually became customers.
“We’re not in the business of sales. We’re in the business of relationships. We’re in the business of helping people.”
Audit Your CRM. Step Up Your Follow-Up.
Take time to review every closed deal from the past couple of years. Are you still in regular contact? Are you branching out to other people inside those organizations—new divisions, new departments, new roles? Each one represents exponential potential.
The hardest sales environment in years gives even greater value to strong relationships. Now is the moment to double down.
Act With Integrity
Integrity isn’t a buzzword. It’s the foundation for every great relationship—and every major sale that results from them. Customers, partners, and industry peers look for people they can trust. Be intentional. Demonstrate integrity in every action.
Open Relationships, Exponentially Grow Your Business
Move past the old model of hunting deals and walking away at the close. Open every sale as the beginning of a new, high-value relationship. Track your network. Nurture every contact. Give more than you get—and watch what happens.
This is how top salespeople win, year after year.
Mark Hunter :
Stop closing deals. That’s right. I’m telling you, stop closing deals. What I want you to do is I want you to open a relationship instead. Hey, I want you to get deals, but why are we walking away from them? It’s all about opening a relationship. I’m going to unpack it. And the show begins right now.
Speaker B :
You’re listening to the Sales Hunter Podcast with Mark Hunter, where the focus is to help you as a sales leader sell with confidence and Integrity. And now here’s your host.
Mark Hunter :
I crack up laughing because I’m guilty of the exact same thing. We spend all this time and effort chasing a lead, turning that lead into a qualified prospect, closing the deal, and then we walk away from them. We just don’t follow up with them. Now, I’m not talking about the art of following up. I’ve done a lot of podcasts on that. You can go back and read some of What I want to talk about is, are we truly creating a relationship? And what I mean a relationship, are we really understanding what the customer’s all about? Hey, here’s the whole deal. When we work to close a deal, uh, with this mindset that we’re going to get this deal closed and then we’re going to move on to the next thing. And rather, what I want you to do is I want you to use every conversation you’re having with the customer to sit there and say, okay, I’m going to help them be more successful because of this deal that we’re working on, but I’m going to use this information to help get me to the next level.
Mark Hunter :
This is one of the reasons why your CRM system is so important. I still see so many salespeople not utilizing their CRM system to capture all these notes. This is why, because early on you don’t know, you don’t know this, this initial conversation you’re having with this lead. If and what it could turn into. This is why it’s so important. You got to be capturing those notes because I have seen time and time again where leads that I’ve turned into sales wind up years later turning into unbelievable relationships and, and an unbelievable amount of business. So you got to be using the, the CRM system from the get-go and making sure you’re putting everything in there. Okay, here’s first rule.
Mark Hunter :
Now, comes back to something I’ve said many times before, and that is staying in touch. You got to stay in touch with them. And now, is it every 2 weeks? Is it every month? Is it twice a quarter? It’s your decision to make depending on the industry, depending on the type of person. There are people who I stay in touch with every couple of weeks. There are other people who I stay in touch with just once a quarter. Because what I found is the more senior level a person is, the higher the level they are, the less frequent you can really be in terms of reaching out to them. But what I got to do is I got to make sure that when I’m reaching out to them, I’m bringing them value. Now remember, okay, I’ve closed a deal with them, I’ve created a sale, great.
Mark Hunter :
So naturally there’s things that I can be following up on that and making sure that’s working well and they’re, they’re getting the benefits that they’re looking for and all those things. But I want to go beyond that. I want to go way beyond that. The reason being is because now this is when I really begin to create a deep relationship. And it’s all about being authentic, and it’s all about demonstrating integrity. Yes, I talk about it in my book Integrity First Selling. Pick up a copy of it, make sure you read it. But here’s the first thing that you got to ask yourself: what do I know about their personal interests, and how can you help them? You know, do they have kids? Do they have sports? Do they have, do they have outside interests? Do they have various things? I, I can tell you time and time again various relationships I’ve created where it’s all been built initially around a personal connection regarding a love of a sport or kids that we have or whatever it might be.
Mark Hunter :
And from there, it’s gone on to much more bigger things. And that comes down to what else is on the person’s plate. In other words, well, hey, the more you know this person, the more you can be right up front, ask them, what are their— what are your KPIs? What are the challenges that you’re working on and how can I help you address them? This is, this is so critically important. I want to be able to do that because when I can help you, when I can help you achieve your KPIs, it’s amazing at how much more I can be a benefit to you. And guess what? That allows you to let me be closer to you. Yeah. Now it goes beyond just the whole personal piece, and I got to understand their broader business. Now, when I mean the broader business, not just how I help sell in that first thing, I want to really understand their customer.
Mark Hunter :
I mean, their company. I want to really understand their company. And if they’re publicly traded, I’m reading all of their reports. I’m looking at everything. I’m looking at every— I’m looking at their competitors. What are their competitors doing? I’m looking at their customers. I’m looking at their industry. I want to go both downstream and upstream.
Mark Hunter :
What do I mean by this? I’m going downstream because I’m looking at their customer’s customer. Okay. In other words, who is it that they sell to? And maybe who is it that their customers sell to. I’m going all the way through to the point of consumption, the point of use, the point of depletion, whatever it might be with whatever it is that they make. But I understand that this is especially critical the further up in an organization I am. These types— this type of knowledge is more important because this is where they’re operating. They’re strategically— and I’m also going Upstream. What I mean upstream, who are their vendors? What are the critical supply chain issues that they may be facing? All of those pieces.
Mark Hunter :
Because again, if I can bring insights, wow, does that make me valuable? Yes, it does make me valuable. Now, one of the nice things about this is if you are prospecting and selling within a particular industry, as you learn knowledge in the industry, you can probably share it with a couple of customers. You could probably share it with multiple people. This is beautiful. And when you see issues that one company’s facing, you can scratch your head and probably say, they’re dealing with it too. That’s their competitor, other companies. You see, it genuinely exponentially increases the value of your knowledge. This is why I say we don’t close a deal, but we open a relationship.
Mark Hunter :
Because when we close a deal, it’s like dropping a hot tamale. You went through all this effort, you went through all this pain, you went through all this work understanding the customer just to sit there and walk away and go chase the next one when you are leaving exponential opportunities on the table. I’m going to walk you through a couple of examples as how this has played out in my own business, in my own life when we get down towards the end. You see, here’s the whole thing. It’s all about looking for ways that you can generate and create value for the customer. See, this is so key. The more I can be seen as one who is bringing value to them, the longer and better and deeper my relationships will be. Here’s what I found many times is that when I close a sale and I open a relationship and I stay in touch with them and I’m sharing with them insights, It’s amazing how suddenly I can begin getting meetings with other people in the company.
Mark Hunter :
I can begin meeting with one person and they will willingly introduce me to somebody else because, see, they’re no longer seeing me as just a vendor, but they’re now seeing me as a true partner. And here’s what I found in today’s marketplace where everybody is more skeptical than ever: when you can be seen as a true partner It is amazing at how much more value— how much more valuable you become, because now there’s a level of trust. There’s a level of trust. As a result, they’re going to share with you more proprietary information. See, here’s the whole deal. All of the time and effort— the hours, we’ll say, we’ll just, just quantify in hours— that I spent in developing a lead and turning them into a customer, I’m taking that same amount of time And now devoting it to nurturing a relationship and taking it a step further. I’m really using the same amount of time, but you know what’s interesting? I’m going to have an ROI, probably 3, 4x, could be even 5, could be 6, could be 10x because of the level of the relationship that I’m having with them. This is what makes this so critical.
Mark Hunter :
See, this is why you have to Stay in touch after the sale. Now here’s a couple things. I’m going to put some spins on this. This also applies to your referral partners. What’s very interesting is it’s easy over the years to have referral partners, and these are people who you refer and they refer you to, kind of come and go. And whoa, wait a minute, we spent all this time developing a referral partner. And then just by one reason or another, it slips away. I want you to have the same level of follow-up, the same level of focus, the same level of intentional purpose with referral partners as you do your customers.
Mark Hunter :
In fact, you know what’s interesting? This also applies to your own suppliers because it’s amazing how many times your own suppliers will become Again, referral partners or customers. And this also applies to— and again, this is a whole 360 piece. And in an AI world, this is becoming more important than ever because here’s what I found. I have found time and time again that the bulk of my business, the bulk of my big opportunities, winds up starting off because of a referral. Now, the referral may very well have been a customer. Yeah, in other words, a customer I worked with, sold to, developed a relationship, and then they in turn referred me to somebody else. I have seen this time and time again. Now, what that is, is that’s a vote of affirmation that the work that you’re doing is absolutely cool.
Mark Hunter :
See, this is why I place customers and referral partners in the same bucket. And I’ve got to be making sure that I understand them personally. I know what their KPIs are. I’m looking for ways to help their company. I understand their competitors. I understand their industry. I’m gaining knowledge about their customers. I’m doing the full— I’m doing everything to all sides.
Mark Hunter :
Now, again, if I’m staying in just a couple of industries, it’s amazing at how efficient my time can be. Let me share with you, because again, I have seen this play out time and time again in my own business. Every year, you know, I do a lot of speaking, a lot of speaking at conferences around the world, and, and I come into companies or associations, and that’s great, and I develop relationships. And then there’s other big opportunities I develop, and every year I— there’s 2, 3, 4 big things that come along, and it’s amazing how many of those I can trace back to A connection. In other words, I got them because of a referral. I got them because of somebody who I knew. There was a connection I knew. Okay.
Mark Hunter :
But what’s interesting is then when I look at that connection, well, how’d I get that connection? It goes back to somebody else, goes back to somebody else, goes back. I was sitting down the other day looking at my own business, and I’ve had this business now 25 years, over 25 years. And I was charting all of my big deals that I’ve had over this 15, over the last 15 years, we’ll say. And it’s amazing. Some of them go 6 relationships back over 10, 15 years. Yeah. Yeah. You see, this is what’s, this is what’s so powerful about the business we’re in.
Mark Hunter :
We’re not in the business of sales. We’re in the business of relationships. We’re in the business of helping people. And it’s very interesting, but As I traced each of these back, many of them went back to a single person who I met probably almost 20 years ago. And it’s interesting, that person never bought from me. They were strictly a connection. They were strictly an industry connection that I got to know. Oh, you see, there’s another level in here.
Mark Hunter :
So you have your customers, you have your referral partners, and you have your industry connections. This industry connection in turn connected me with another person, connected me with— and along the way, I began doing business with a lot of other people who then wound up connecting me with other people, connecting me with other people. You see, here’s the situation. When we turn sales around and we begin to look at sales as relationships, relationships not to be used, but relationships to be nurtured. In fact, I even talk about this in my book Aligned for Sales, you know, that we don’t use a relationship, we don’t use our network, but we nurture our network. This is why I say, and I’ve practiced this for years, that every week I give 3 referrals a week. Every week I give at least 3 referrals, period. And it’s funny, but exponentially I’ve gotten more than 3 referrals back.
Mark Hunter :
And again, some of these wind up being absolutely huge. But what this is, is it’s It’s about never losing sight. So what I want you to do is I want you to look at your CRM system and I want you to go back and look at your, all the customers that you’ve closed over the last couple years. How are you doing and staying in touch with them? How are you doing and staying in touch with other people within that same company? Maybe, maybe it’s a customer that you sold to and you had a couple good relationships, but have you been able to spin that out into other relationships in that company? Other divisions, other opportunities. Because here’s what I, what I’m finding: it’s harder than ever right now to make sales. It is, it is without doubt, because of the economy, because of the uncertainty, because of everything going on, everything going on. As a result, trust and relationships are more valuable than ever. So this is why this whole strategy we’re talking about in terms of don’t just close a sale, but open a relationship is so valuable.
Mark Hunter :
Hey, I do want you to pick up my book, Integrity First Selling. Grab it. I unpacked a lot because I’ll tell you what, companies, people want to deal with people who demonstrate integrity. My name is Marc Hunter, The Sales Hunter. You’ve been listening to The Sales Hunter Podcast, 2 episodes a week, one like this single topic, another one where I do a deep dive with a subject matter expert. Hey, do me a favor. Leave me a review on your favorite podcast app, would you? Hey, and I’ll see you on the next episode. Great selling.
