In 1997 I was growing sales within an account slowly but surely. I was bringing solution after solution, and my customer was converting more and more of their business to me and my company. Now, I needed to take our relationship to a personal level. My point of contact was a huge sports fan. One day I invited him to join me at an Orlando Magic pre-season game. He declined. I thought: “Well, it is a pre-season game.” He loved the Florida Gators, so I invited him to a Gator football game (it was the last home game before the famous 1997 victory over FSU). He declined again. He kept buying from me, but he didn’t seem interested in taking our relationship to the next level, so I stopped trying.
The following spring, I had tickets to an Arena Football game and couldn’t make it. I called this customer and offered him both tickets, explaining that I couldn’t make it but the two tickets were his if he wanted them. He jumped at it and thanked me profusely.
What? You turn me down twice when it’s you and me, but you jump on the opportunity when I’m not attending with you? Really? Well, what I learned in our second best practice in building personal relationships…
My customer traveled quite a bit for work. When he was at home, he couldn’t justify being away from his family … and he didn’t want to be away from them. He took his wife to the Arena Football game, and they had a blast. My gesture elevated our relationship and eventually we started having a weekly breakfast to review his account and our relationship blossomed.
Best practice #2 in building personal relationships with customers: give your customers tickets to events, gift cards to nice restaurants, or even reward trips to enjoy on their own. Your customers probably want to spend time with you, but sometimes it’s tough for them to justify time away from their families. Don’t feel like you have to be there to grow your relationships. Sometimes you get closer to a customer when you’re not there. When they enjoy a nice date with their spouse or time with their kids and it’s because of a gift from you, that appreciation could seal a much closer relationship.
On Friday, look for best practice #3 in growing personal relationships with your customers.
If you’re interested in how we might be able to help your sales organization effectively grow personal relationships, click here.
