I love football season, but probably for a much different reason than you love it. Besides most of the Florida Gator games, I probably won’t watch a full game all season. I’ll catch the College Playoffs and the Superbowl at the end of the season, but that’s about it. Guess what? I still love it. Here’s why…
Football season makes it very easy to build or hold a relationship with my clients. Even though I don’t watch many games, I know what’s happening in pretty much every league. This allows me to celebrate the victories enjoyed by all of my friends and clients. I’m able to send a text about a catch or bad call. I’ll tweet about a great overtime win, or even drop a voicemail to someone when I know it’s special. I don’t do this because of business – I do this with all of my friends all weekend – and many of my clients are friends. It’s a blast. One time I sent a text to a client who had been silent for almost two years – all it said was “Nice win – gutsy calls by your guy.” That led to a response, quick dialogue, and a “Give me a shout this week – I think we’ve got a project for you.”
Hopefully you realize that this post isn’t about football. It’s about taking your client relationships to the personal level. It’s so easy and quick in today’s environment. There’s no need to have three hour dinners – just shoot a nice text before their vacations, tag them on LinkedIn when you share a cool article they’d appreciate, or actually give them a real voice-to-voice phone call when you think about them. These devices that have made it difficult for us to gain appointments with our prospects and customers really help us build personal relationships with our clients, without being intrusive or asking too much commitment from them.
What do you think? Who can you call today about this past weekend’s games?
