I often find when people I don’t know try to “connect” with me on LinkedIn, they send a sales pitch just moments after I accept them into my network.

Nobody likes to be sold, not even the people doing the hardcore selling. But the quest for more business — especially if an organization is struggling through a pandemic — can leave professionals blind to the fact that they are essentially walking up to a complete stranger and proposing marriage — not even knowing their name.

This is when selling becomes "smelling."

And it can happen anywhere — on social media, your website, blog, or in the analog world. Avoid it, just as you would an expired container of milk.

In this episode of GUTS, we’ll talk about an alternative to smelling — the art of relationship building.

Links to the books mentioned in the podcast:

• The Little Red Book of Selling
• Go Givers Sell More
• A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing