Black Friday is when most retailer’s profits go from that
red line to the black and start showing their annual profits. It all profits
from here forward for them. So, now that we are past Black Friday, it might be
a good time to take a look at your bank account and see if you are in the black
too. But the Bank account I am talking about is your relationship bank account.
This account does have debits and credits just the one at your financial
institution, but these debits and credits come in the form of the way you
contribute to or burden the people you interact with in your daily lives. Do
you help to make other people’s day better or do you make their day a little
harder? Credit or debit?
I used to use this metaphor with my kids. I would explain to
them that they have an emotional bank account with other people. Further explaining that when you
sarcastically insult a person (even jokingly) you are making a withdrawal from
your emotional bank account with them and if you haven’t made enough deposits
(compliments and other ways of building them up) then you are risking becoming
overdrawn. Take it a step further and you could even take it to the point of
bankruptcy or being cut-off. Thus, the importance of deposits (credits) in your
accounts.
So how does this apply to sales?
1. Doing (and
accepting) favors – these are easy credits and are double good. Not only can
you build up your relationship account balance, but you can also establish
credibility in subject matter expertise or as a trusted advisor. Just as
important is allowing other to do favors for you. “Give the gift of giving,”
This is a tough thing to do for some people, but allowing people to do favors
for you is also a credit in some ways. You are allowing them to contribute to
you and that is fulfilling to a lot of people. If you are in need of something
and you don’t let your peers help, they can actually debit your relationship
account for that.
2. Empathy –
knowing when to be in “sales mode” and when to be a partner and work on the
relationship. As sales people, we all have quotas and we don’t have a
relationship quota. We need to close. We need to ask for the business. But, you
can gain relationship credits when you know when to ask for the business and
when not to. I recently visited a customer who was talking to me about the last
3 jobs they lost to their competitor. Had I jumped into a mode where I stated
asking where can I get my next sales from them, they would have debited my
relationship account with the fact that I wasn’t in tune with the clues that
they were struggling to give me business and maybe even needed my help finding
some for themselves. I could have even gained a deposit (credit) had I asked
where I could plug into their business and assist, as a partner, in helping
them to win over this competitor of theirs.
3. Making long
term investments – just like in finances, the relationship investments you make
should be long term ones. This takes aligning of goals and beliefs. It also
takes a period of getting to know each other and above all else – LISTENING. If
your partner knows you are listening and understanding their needs, you are
making regular deposits day in and day out. Sure, it is okay to diversify your
investments and have some short term, high risk ones, but that needs to be part
of your strategy and not by accident. You very much need to have a healthy
amount of long term stable relationships and that takes investing.
Using these and similar bank account building techniques,
you will have strong relationships. In fact, you will be rich. The natural
result will be increased sales and who knows you may end up being rich in other
ways too.
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