“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
Leo Buscaglia
Let's all just imagine for a moment... What could a smile, a kind word, a listening ear or the smallest act of caring do for your client relationships?
I believe it could change the course of the relationship.
What concerns me is that the words love, cherish, adore, idolize and worship are seldom used words within the sales profession.
Caring, a term not often heard in sales. Defined as, displaying kindness and concern for others.
Are you congruent with the caring of your clients?
Dale Carnegie nailed it:
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
- What do you really know about clients?
- What do they really care about?
- What makes them tick?
You see, sales is serving and serving is sales. To serve is to care. It's caring about your clients and prospects, the people who buy what you have to sell.
Listen up... if you're looking to increase your sales then I encourage you to capture the hearts and minds of your clients and your future clients.
"People don’t care what you know until they know that you care."
Theodore Roosevelt
Truly caring is about "giving a rip" and helping your clients solve their business challenges, goals, initiatives concerns. Showing you care, it's not about being "icky-sticky", it's about being human, being real and being your authentic self.
Does your care talk match your care walk?
CARING... DO WHAT YOU SAY!
In a sales world which is sorely lacking trust and credibility, I would like for all of you to think about what could be going through their mind, "Can I trust you?", "Are you trustworthy?" or "I know at some point I will be let down."
Hear me out on this one... No trust no sale! Deliver on the promises you've made. No excuses and no lip service... just care. Do what you say you're going to do.
How do you feel when someone breaks a promise to you? Now go ahead and place yourself in your client's shoes... How do you think they feel?
Stay true to yourself and keep your word. Don't ever waiver from it. Care enough about yourself and commit to doing what you say you're going to do.
This builds...
- Trust
- Reliability
- Integrity
- Respect
- Self-worth
"Mean What You Say, Do What You Say"
CARING BUILDS CONNECTION
"From caring comes courage."
Lao Tzu
Do you have the courage to start caring for your clients? I mean really start caring about your clients.
Here is a thought... What if you stopped caring for your spouse, your significant other or for that manner, your friends; what would happen to those relationships? It would be a gut punch of reality and rightfully so.
Caring is deeply rooted in fulfilling relationships. Apply caring to your clients and watch what happens to your relationships. We're humans and we all crave a sense of belonging.
What ties your client relationships together?
What keeps them from drafting apart?
Caring brings connection to client relationships.
INTENTIONAL CARING... COULD THIS BE THE MISSING LINK?
Year after year, the nursing profession has been ranked at the top of the trust meter.
Why? They lead with empathy and they truly care about their patients.
Digging a bit into the Nursing profession, I came across the phrase Intentional Caring.
Intentional caring was coined by Jean Watson. She is an American nurse theorist and nursing professor who is best known for her theory of human caring. She is also the founder of the Watson Caring Science Institute.
The nursing profession has embraced the theory of Jean Watson’s Caring Science. Caring Science is about embracing the positive energy that flows from an integrated mind, body and spirit and is mutually rewarding to both the patient and the nurse.
She believes nurses are optimally positioned to be the heart of healing. By actively engaging in caring through authentic presence and intentionality, nurses are equipped to be able to optimize their patient’s ability to heal from within.
Could intentional caring be the difference in building or not building genuine client relationships?
Be the difference. It’s what you say and do, and how you say and do it. Caring, it is about unveiling our true thoughts, feelings, and attitudes and allows us to live more authentically in our relationships.
"Caring is the essence of nursing"
Jean Watson
Curious... Could intentional caring be the essence of sales?
Imagine for a moment how intentional caring could play out with your clients...
- Become interested in your client’s ideas and pursuits
- Become an advocate for your client's, promote and champion their direction of growth and interests
- Become cooperative and flexible with your interactions
- Become willing to let them know when they are going in a direction that is potentially harmful to their business
Caring is a day-to-day and moment-by-moment opportunity to create a long-lasting intimate and joy filled relationship with your clients.
JUST PLAIN CARE ABOUT YOUR CLIENTS
Your success in sales is not just about closing more deals, where you sit on the sales totem pole, or the size of your last commission check; it’s about demonstrating you deeply care about the needs, interests, and desires as you help guide your clients to do better business.
Authentically caring about people is the key to sales and your success.
If you don’t genuinely care, neither will your clients. I encourage you to authentically care about what's truly most important to the people you'd like to do business with and just do it!
The more you care, the stronger you can be.
Jim Rohn
I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and heartfelt strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.
Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback, kindle and in audio. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.
In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.
With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social and Selling from the heart inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
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