Daily Archives: May 22, 2019

We don’t buy products, services or companies. Well, we do, but we buy them from people we trust. We all operate in competitive industries. Our prospects can find what we sell just about anywhere. So, how do they decide who they buy it from? They buy from the person they trust. Therefore, people buy from people – first.

Importance of Building Trust With Customers

Knowing this, we have to be sure we are conducting ourselves in a way that is trust building. The number one way to build trust is to care more about the prospect than about ourselves. And yet, one of the hardest things to do is to NOT think about the sale.

So, what do we do? Start by embracing the idea that the more you think about selling, the less you will actually sell. You will be working against yourself and your best interest. If you can own this truth you are on your way to gaining trust and growing your business.

Now, focus on your prospect. The more you learn about them the more you will be able to identify if, and how, you can help them. The truth is this is all they are interested in. They don’t care about your product or service. They care about the problems they have, the challenges they are facing, and their own success. If you can connect your product/service to their situation, you are far more likely to gain their business.

You can’t assume you have a solution for them. That’s one of the traps of sales — believing your offering is valuable to everyone. Maybe it should be, but it isn’t. It’s only valuable to the people or companies who see value in it. And the only ones who are going to find it valuable are the ones that trust you to provide the solution.

Consider these three steps to being the person your prospect will buy from:

Assume nothing — Realize that you don’t know whether you have something they should buy until you know more about them. You also don’t know if you want to do business with them until you know them. Just because they look like they fit a mold doesn’t mean there’s a fit.

Do discovery — Develop a comprehensive list of questions you can ask them to really learn about them. These questions should go beyond the scope of the situation you can resolve. You want to know how they operate, what is most important to them, their budget and timeline, and more.

Really listen — This is critical. Attentive, intentional listening is the most important part of trust building. When you are really listening to someone they can feel it. And you can honestly determine whether you can help them, and whether you want to. This real listening provides you with the platform for responding to them.

When you implement these steps you will find that you are developing deep relationships where you should be. You will build trust that will positively impact your business over time. And the people or companies that should be buying from you, will.

They will want to enter into a business relationship with you, and they will refer you to others. Because people buy from people. Period.

You might assume that keeping employees happy would require more money or time off. And while both those things are certainly appreciated, employee happiness is a bit more complex. Employers are starting to recognize that keeping their employees happy and fulfilled at work means getting a little creative.

“To make customers happy, we have to make sure our employees are happy first.” – Zappos

Employee Happiness vs Profit

The well being and happiness of employees can affect their productivity, and therefore their overall enthusiasm regarding their work. Employers might be interested to learn that the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick found happy workers to be 12% more productive than the average worker, while unhappy employees are 10% less productive.

• Companies with happy employees outperform the competition by 20%.

• Happy and engaged employees earn 1.2 – 1.7% more than their peers.

• Happy workers are more likely to problem solve in difficult situations faster than their peers.

The book Getting Engaged: The New Workplace Loyalty, explains that an employee who is actively engaged cares about their jobs, the company, and daily performance. For an engaged employee, it’s about much more than just a paycheck and benefits.  These are the people who will put in extra effort without being asked and will ensure their work is done well.

Creating Employee Happiness

To create true employee happiness that will impact productivity, engagement, and profit, you have to look a bit outside the standard box of employee benefits. No one will turn up their nose at a pay raise, but money can only go so far when creating a lasting change.

“…more and more evidence is showing that employee happiness is a huge reason why companies are able to earn more and be more successful.” – snacknation.com

So what are some of the tried and true ways to accomplish this task? Here are a few ideas:

Flexible work hours based on work getting done: adding some kind of flexibility allows employees to work at the pace and time that will aid in productivity. We know some people are more productive in the morning, while others are more energized midday. This might not be possible for all companies, but that leads into our next suggestion…

Unlimited time off: instead of having employees count their days off and try to hoard them for certain needs, providing unlimited time off means that you need to be engaged and productive in order to be able to enjoy your time out of the office. Many companies have ways to manage this, and ensure that not too many people are out at once. You might need to consult with you HR team, but it’s a great way to make workers feel that their daily hard work is appreciated.

Continued learning: providing an opportunity for continued education is a way for employees to expand their skills, do their jobs better and more efficiently, as well as help make a revenue impact on the business. Certificate programs, day-long trainings, seminars, and guest speakers are ways to provide continued learning for your workers.

Other popular engagement tools are allowing pets in the office, (within reason), providing full or prorated gym memberships, and free food in the office.

The Big Picture View

The long term results of unhappy and disengaged employees will lead to negative attitudes and low productivity – both of which can affect your bottom line. Studies have shown that low-level engagement will result in a 33% decrease in operating income and an 11% decrease in growth. However, on the flip side, companies with high-level engagement have a 19% increase in income and a 28% increase in earnings growth.

A company can stand out from their competition by utilizing their greatest asset: their employees. It has been made clear that satisfied employees create satisfied customers, who then spend more money with your company and spread great word-of-mouth reviews. Money can’t necessarily buy you happiness, but happiness seems to be the link to monetary growth.