Business is personal. There is nothing more personal to your business than the relationships you have with your clients. The secret to great relationships is real connection.
The quality of your relationships is equal to the quality of your connection. You know this to be true. Every really good relationship you have is based on a powerful connection. Your lover, spouse, BFF, sibling, shit even you and your dog have an amazing connection. What is it about the great connection that is the secret to business success? Caring.
You have to truly care about your client. Not just because they will eventually buy from you but because you really give a shit about them as a person. You care about the improvement of their lives. You want to see them succeed. Any time you have really cared about someone else’s best...the connection has been strong.
The same is true in business. When you only care as a means to an end the other person feels it. Doesn’t matter if you are talking to your EA, an employee in your office, a customer on the sales floor, or a connection online. When it’s only about the end...it will be the END for you.
My biggest failures in my work have come when I put the end (payment or the deal) ahead of the connection. In fact, I recently lost a client because he felt like a paycheck rather than someone I truly gave a crap about. That is flatly untrue but I made him feel that way. So it was true for him. Major fail on my part.
I know you’re probably thinking it’s easy for you to say Sean. You don’t know what it’s like to run my business, to get paid on commission, to deal with the crap my people give me on a daily basis, or even maybe...but I don’t get the luxury of choosing who I connect with in business. I hear you. But even if you are paid on commission, have a staff that drive you crazy, deal exclusively with the public on a daily basis, or have your hands tied you can and must care.
These are people you are dealing with. Not numbers and not paychecks. The quicker you can look at others for the people they are; with desires, needs, wants, hopes, dreams, and real problems the quicker you will be able to empathize, understand, and maybe help solve their problems which will lead you to bigger and bigger rewards.
Look! Do this...care enough to understand the other person. This creates relationship. You need to understand the other person in order to be able to deliver value in their life. What do they covet? What do they need? You need to know how to impact them in a way that makes them feel special in order to create that high level of trust that deepens connection.
Business is personal. Get personal with your business relationships by truly connecting with them. Start by caring.
No comments:
Post a Comment