Good-Bye To Purposeless Calls
The time has come to say excellent bye to the words: “checking in” or “touching base” or “seeing how you’re doing” (insert your version here).
Get them out of your vocabulary – the days of purposeless mission are over. I don’t care if it is a quick phone call OR a face-to-face meeting.
People today are:
- doing the job of at smallest amount 2 people (if not more)
- tasked with things they have no training to do
- agreed responsibilities without authority
Yes, the new normal is idiotic busy. People want you to bring value to them when you show up – on the phone, in the mail, via email, by appointment.
Stop trying to build a warm and fuzzy relationship by “checking in”. Commence to reckon of what new thoughts you can bring with you to solve the problems your prospects & customers face NOW.
Say excellent-bye to wasting their time – and yours.
Here are 10 reasons to call, vague so you can insert your “stuff” in:
- new product announcement & how it will solve their problem(s)
- some industry standard or regulation change that affects them
- an article you thought they’d find fascinating
- confirming you know their project time line
- telling them about delivery era (the excellent/terrible/hideous)
- let them know about a special deal (use sparingly)
- help with project plotting
- keep stock levels at appropriate levels
- if you’ve got a trigger event – USE IT
- know their 2011 business objectives (to ensure what you do moves them forward)
I know there are era “making up a purpose” is hard, hard, stressful even – but worse is purposeless calls that leave your prospects and customers with a terrible taste in their mouth. Like they went to their favorite restaurant and had a terrible meal.
Next time it will be much simpler to ignore your call, avoid you when you drop by, or cancel an appointment. If you don’t bring value – you bring nothing (that sparkling personality just isn’t sufficient anymore).
Best Customer Fallacy: This concept doesn’t go away because “they are my best customer” – as a replacement for I would challenge that it becomes more & more critical as the relationship develops.
Verify that the salesperson who wooed them away from the previous vendor isn’t going to grow complacent – but rather will become more and more valuable to them as time progresses.
That deepening relationship is because you continue to bring value to the table; define how you are perceived…. Brilliant, Invaluable, Irreplaceable – not by what you say, but how you show up to every single customer interaction.