About 10 years ago, a friend of mine and I had scheduled a lunch for the Monday following Thanksgiving. I remember arriving at the office early that morning because of all the things I had to do to make up for the previous four days of eating turkey, and all the tasks I had delayed due to the holiday week. As I looked at my calendar for the day and the week ahead, the relaxation that settled in during the long weekend had suddenly been replaced with a focused task mode of operating. Life balance, relationships, and long-term strategy flew out the window – I needed to get this, this, and this done now. The last thing I needed to do was have lunch with a buddy.
About 7:45, he called me and left a message (my ringer was off – after all, I was in task mode). His message went something like this: “Looking forward to seeing you today, but I also know how busy you probably are after returning from the long weekend. I was just thinking that it might be better if we got together next week. Give me a shout back and let me know. I’m good either way, but don’t want you to feel rushed.”
What a relief – an extra two hours or so! This was like gold to me at that point. “What a great guy”, I thought. “I’m going to make sure we get together next week at his convenience.” The rest of the morning was full of messages of the opposite tone: “I just wanted to make sure we’re getting together to discuss December’s forecast.” “I’m confirming our 4:30 – I’ll arrive a little early since we have so much to discuss.” “Chris, we need to talk about xyz account – why did your sales person sell this product to them? It’s not a good match and not working.” Etc. etc. etc.
Who do you think I appreciated at the end of the day? Who do you think made a more lasting impression on me? Of course, my friend who thought about my time and not his. For all I know, he was busy and this was a slick way to get out of our lunch, but who cares?
So, how should you approach you customers today? Don’t bombard them. In fact, let them off the hook. Don’t go as far as cancelling appointments, but for the ones who owe you a call, send them a quick email saying this:
“I hope you had a relaxing holiday. Don’t worry about getting back to me this week – you probably have a million things on your plate. If I don’t hear from you by next week, I’ll give you shout.”
This works wonders. First of all, your customer probably would not have gotten back to you anyway. If they had intended to, they’ll still do so. Secondly, you’ll be the only one doing this. Their boss, peers, direct reports, other sales people, and anyone else in their eco-system will be bugging them all week. You’ll be the one person that stands out as special and caring about them. It also screams of confidence while making your pushy competitors reek of desperation.
Try it out, and let me know how it works for you.
