17/01/2018
Why Connect?
This is an age of “Connections”; we are all connected all the time every time….. One can be pinged on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc…. Even on a personal number we have WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, Duo etc… In case you are not instantly available, No Problem! We can always leave the message as an SMS or WhatsApp etc.
Have you ever wondered? Have you ever wondered why you need to call Just that One Friend, when you have 5000 Plus Facebook Friends? Why?
Because you know that the Connection you have on Facebook is not something you can rely upon when it comes down to Delivery.
So what can help us with “Delivery”? By “Delivery”, I mean anything which requires us humans to say “Yes” or “No” and act accordingly. It can be meeting “Sales targets” or “Service Delivery” or for that matter my “barber” agreeing to “Deliver” a proper haircut.
B2B, B2C, B2B2C etc… whatever market we operate in our “Connections” are vital for our success. Let’s understand what “Connections” means. By “Connections”, we mean that one “Friend” whom you would rely upon. Gaining that kind of trust requires you to:-
1) Listen Listen Listen to your customers…… We lose our Clients, not because of our inefficiency, as much as we do due to not listening.
2) Be genuinely interested in your Clients Business. We might be solving / satisfying a small part of the Client’s needs, example “Delivering Tea” upon request, which keeps our Clients fresh. Or a Big Part, example “Working on a Million Dollar Deal sales support”. If we do not know our clients business, we shouldn’t be in business in first place.
3) Information flow has to be transparent. There are a lot that you might be doing for the Client, knowingly or unknowingly, but keeping the Client in the loop about all the workflows and ensuring that he is kept informed is very important. Each Business Owner is also a custodian of the Brand and we all would want to know how the Brand is managed. Clients are no different.
4) Accept the existence of GAPs. We all tend to get defensive, however, try thinking from the Clients perspective. Present all the Inefficiency as a GAP that you have identified and present a solution / action you have taken to overcome the same.
These 4 rules are enough to gain the 1st step of trust. WORD OF CAUTION: This does not deal with the whole “Connect” Scenario discussed in the beginning, but just “Trust”, which is a very important component of “Connect”.
