I’d like for you to grab a sheet of paper and a pen. Write down your top five clients. Now, I’d like for you to think about them for a moment. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your client knowledge? Go ahead and put a number score next to each one of them.
If you agree your clients mean the world to you then how well do you know them and how well do they know you?
I say this because deep meaningful relationships are necessary in this post-trust sales world.
Here’s the deal… I’m keeping it real folks; I’m massively concerned with the weak relational skill set that many have in sales.
How many of you walk around or should I say strut around saying, “My clients love me” “I have rock-solid relationships with my clients” And then you get the dreaded call. We know the call.
Meaningful Relationships Matter
Heartfelt sales professionals build meaningful relationships with their clients. They get it! To build meaningful relationships, they understand as humans we crave and value relationships.
Credibility and true meaning provide:
- Connectivity (knowing we’re in this together);
- Support (knowing we’re helping each other);
- Validation (knowing we feel the same way).
Relationships are a part of human nature. It’s wired in our DNA.
Are you personally engaging with your clients?
Are you authentically investing in building meaningful relationships?
Relationship Prevention
Vulnerability is one massive key ingredient in building healthy, happy and heartfelt personal relationships. However, when it comes to being vulnerable in our sales lives, many of us struggle to open up.
In my heart, I believe vulnerability equates to sales power because living from a vulnerable space requires tremendous strength and incredible courage.
It’s unfortunate as many in sales hide behind, fabricated, false and fake images they’ve created, as they choose to reveal facade versions of themselves to the external world, their clients.
Many have become pseudo professionals in concealing what’s contained beneath the surface, keeping who they really are hidden within a neat little package; shielded away from outside view.
You can be credible, reliable and loving but if it’s painfully obvious you only have your own interests at heart people will see through your charade. They will call you out for what you are, an empty suit.
Be Brave, Become Vulnerable
In a sales world full of broken dreams, busted promises and braggadocious behavior, one can never ever build credible business relationships without eating humble pie and vulnerability for breakfast.
Becoming sales powerful requires vulnerability. It’s those sales professionals who so bravely choose to become “open books” sharing human aspects of themselves and revealing the truth of who they are by leading authentic lives.
Vulnerability is power because living a sales life from a vulnerable space requires tremendous strength and incredible courage. It’s truly going against the sales norm!
When you lead a sales lie that is really not you, I promise this will come back and bite you right in the ass. I’d like for you to ask yourself, are the images you’ve created really adding value and meaning to your clients, or have they made you feel like an empty suit?
Are you sensing there’s something missing, preventing you from building those meaningful client relationships?
Get real.
Be authentic.
Be vulnerable.
Brene Brown talks about this in her book, Daring Greatly. A person who can make themselves vulnerable, exposing their weaknesses without any regard to what others will think, is saying to the world, “I don’t care what you think of me; this is who I am, and I refuse to be anyone else.”
Enhance the Experience, Enhance the Relationship
Creating an outstanding experience is one of the biggest opportunities you will have to capture your clients’ interest, get them to act and have them continue to do business with you.
Stop operating with the same mindset, delivering the same HO-HUM experiences as you expect different outcomes.
How can you build and strengthen your client relationships if your hiding behind a relational façade?
Staying vulnerable helps to consistently recognize your value as a unique, heartfelt and caring professional. It gives you the courage to reveal yourself in ways that will strengthen your client connections.
