About 10 years ago, when I was VP of Sales for a security manufacturer, I traveled to Montreal to qualify a major program we were considering in the UAE. Our Regional Sales Manager was overly excited about the enormity of the opportunity, but I couldn’t get my hands around the reality of it, and the possibility of us winning it. So, there I was on a frozen January night in Montreal, having dinner with an integration company trying to convince me that we should invest in pursuing this program. After I asked about a dozen questions, each of which escalated the frustration of our potential partner, the leader of their group leaned over to me and said the magic words: “Chris, you’re a young man and still have a lot to learn about business. You need to understand that sometimes a personal relationship is more qualification than all the answers you’re searching for.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I continued with our dinner, and the next day informed the group that we would not be pursuing the project (after talking with my boss first). I thought: “Really, your personal relationship is going to win a 9-figure program that isn’t even funded yet? Really? That’s all you have?”
Best practice #1 of building personal relationships with your customers: bring something more substantive than a friendship to your relationship. Your points of contact are constantly getting challenged on their decisions and ideas. Your job is to make your customers smarter and better. If you can build a personal relationship on top of a unique service you’re bring them, great. If you simply build a personal relationship on top of nothing of substance to their organization, then your business relationship is a house of cards. All you have is another friend (which is ok if you’re not counting on that friend for business).
BTW, the program I referenced above never became a reality.
If you’re interested in the next two ideas, click here for Best Practice #2 and here for Best Practice #3.
