One advantage to working directly with Rainmakers every month is I hear stories. These stories relate what works and doesn’t work in building business through relationships.
Let me share a few of these stories and the resulting “best practices” that came out of them:
Alan has a client with whom he’s done business with for over a year. The business has been good, but not as robust as it could be. In his latest visit with this client, Alan decided to take a different approach — focus solely on the relationship. He spent time getting to know his client. What Alan discovered is that they shared a passion for really fast cars.
This knowledge easily setup Alan’s next visit where he drove his vintage car to the client’s location and they swapped driving experiences. Their shared passion led to an increased depth in the relationship and opened the door to increased business.
Deb shared a story of a new prospect call she recently made. Deb’s normal modus operandi was to spend the obligatory “make nice” time at the beginning of the call, but she was normally all business. In this recent introductory call, Deb spent the entire time just getting to know the person. At the end of the call, the client said Deb had spent more time with him during this one call than his current provider had spent with him in the past five years. Deb is now bidding to win the business.
Barb talked about the value of trust and how solid and deep relationships build trust. One of Barb’s value-added marketing tools is to host roundtable discussions on topics of interest and value for her clients. In Barb’s efforts to expand the reach of her roundtable programs, she related two different call scenarios.
In scenario one, Barb would inject into the first conversation with a prospect that they should consider using the roundtables to provide value-added service for their clients. The client’s response was almost always a delaying tactic of some type.
In scenario two, Barb spent the first call doing nothing except building the relationship. With a relationship and trust beginning to build, the client’s response to the roundtables was more frequently “when is the date for the next one.”
These stories and others provide insights into best practices you should consider. When meeting with someone for the first time or very early in the relationship, move forward with the following agenda items in mind:
• Tell me about you.
• Tell me about your business.
• How can I be helpful?
• Be generous.
• Slow yourself down.
• Don’t sell (without a relationship or trust in place selling just makes the client defensive).
Other best practices for building strong business relationships include:
• Make sure what you offer is phenomenal. A strong relationship does not substitute for poor products or services.
• Approach each situation with integrity and authenticity.
• Approach each situation with the self-confidence that you will provide value for the client, from the client’s perspective.
• Employ non-agenda listening. Do not prepare your response while the other person is talking.
Finally, consider three questions. These three questions help bridge the gap between relationships and doing business together. They help in closing sales and simultaneously strengthening a relationship.
What do they really need?
How can I be helpful?
Who can be helpful if I can’t?
The best practice of all — caring. If you care, the client knows. If you don’t, the client knows that even faster. And caring is not a matter of degrees; you either do or you don’t. Care about what the client needs and you building a relationship and trust with them. The value of your solutions will become evident to not only you but to the client as well.
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Author Ken Cook is founder and managing director of Peer to Peer Advisors and developer of the Rainmakers System. Connect with him through his website at www.peertopeeradvisors.com.
