Building relationships is good for business. If it takes 6-8 touch points before a prospect enters the “customer zone” in your business. Why do you pitch a sale on the first contact?
There is nothing worse than picking up the phone or opening your email and some company trying to sell to you. Come on, this is 2019, get with the programme!
It’s like asking someone to marry you before you go out on a date, really how’s that working for you!
Building Relationships on Linkedin
LinkedIn is a typical example of this scenario, you get lots of inbox messages from people who can’t be bothered to start a conversation with the same old, same old “join my network” invitation.
THEN YOU NEVER HEAR FROM THEM AGAIN!
It’s a waste of your time and theirs, with no positive outcome. I have a policy now to ignore those invitations if someone cannot be bothered to start building relationships and personalise it in the beginning.
If someone does take the time to find out more about you and send a personalised invitation. I take the trouble to connect and then send a reply asking how he or she found me. It’s also a great way to find out what made them connect with you.
“Bloody hell it’s the start of a conversation.”
Marketing has evolved, yep, I get that. However, there are some things that never change. Honesty, integrity and a true willingness to fit the right solution for the customer’s problem.
If you’re not truly interested in helping people and customers in your business then you are just an out of date sales machine asking for money!
Ok, I understand you may be struggling to pay your bills each month. But that’s no reason to skip the fact that people will always choose to buy from someone they know like and trust…period.
So if you’re not willing to take the time to get to know your customer, understand their needs and deliver exceptional products and services. You will always struggle to pay the bills if you always ask to marry before your date. And on goes your never-ending cycle of doom and rejection.
Think about it, it’s no good pushing your “perfect product” onto everyone with a pulse in the hope (and that’s what it is just hope) that they will buy. The first thing you need to do is identify what problem/issue/desire your product/service resolves or answers.
The second thing to do is identify who needs it most.
And the third thing to do is find out where they hang out, and how to approach them properly to start a conversation.
There is a lot more to marketing and sales, but if you start with building relationships you might find it less of a struggle to pay your bills as you get better at it.
Let me know in the comments if this has happened to you, how special you feel, and what response do you give.
#dotherightthing, Steve
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