It would seem easier to write your blog post or discussion question in a program like Word, so that you can edit your piece there and transfer your finished product to businessrelationships.com, right?
WRONG!
Microsoft Word has its own formatting built into the software. If you take a previously written piece in Word to copy and paste it into businessrelationships.com, the formatting will be wild and new characters might be added.
You might spend more time fixing the formatting errors than you would have if you'd re-typed the entire document.
So, what can you do to transfer a previously written piece?
Text Edit & Notepad are called simple text editors. They are like Microsoft Word but without the bells and whistles. If you have a word processing program (like Microsoft Word) then you probably have a simple text editor on your computer. A search should easily locate the program.
If you have a Mac, you will probably have Text Edit on your computer. If you have a PC, you will probably have Notepad on your computer.
All you have to do is locate the simple text editor (Notepad or Text Edit) and type what you want to say into it like you would in Microsoft Word or any other word processor. When you are ready to post it to businessrelationships.com, you'll have to write as you normally would in the simple word processor. Then you would copy or cut the piece and paste it into businessrelationships.com. It's that easy!
If you have a different way to add without retyping, we'd love to hear it. Please leave a comment below!
If there were a contest for the best small talker, the organizers wouldn’t even let me near the building where the contest was being held. Time and again I’ve proven that casual conversation is mostly beyond me.
I’ve watched as others discuss the weather endlessly, seemingly fascinated by temperatures, wind direction, and humidity, while I fought the narcoleptic state that such discussions cause me to slip into.
I tend to be more of a reactive conversationalist. I’ll let the discussion create itself and then, when I think I have something to add, I’ll add it. People tend to like my additions, thankfully, though I have to be careful with sarcasm and irony.
But in places like conferences or seminars or even my wife’s high school reunion, when I have to interact with people I do not know, I can attempt a response and find my mouth open, ready to speak. At that instant it is as if a trap door has opened in my mind and all the words have dropped out.
While I show few skills in the direction of small talk, my family abounds with excellent small talkers. My wife Rose has the ability to exchange three or four statements with a person whom she has not met before and then suddenly they both are discussing their hopes, dreams, and fears. I’ve seen her do it many times yet I remain amazed. My son Michael is a gifted salesperson who can easily engage with people—creating relationships with the sounds that issue from his mouth. It’s a valuable skill.
I know that Southwest Airlines and Whole Foods hires customer contact people by having the existing customer team sit down and talk with a potential hire. They are interested in seeing how effectively the potential hire is at initiating or engaging a conversation. This seems to me an excellent way to determine how a person will do in social situations with customers.
I’ve never heard a cross word from a Southwest employee; nor have I ever felt ambushed when a Whole Foods employee asked if I needed any help. There is a genuineness there that goes far beyond seller-buyer relationships. Such ability, because it is very hard to teach, offers possibilities for that rarest of the rare in this economy, a sustainable competitive advantage. Niceness as economic driver. JSperry
Anthony Iannarino is President and Chief Sales Officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing. He is a consultant with B2B Sales Coach and Consultancy, and teaches at Capital University.
Joe Sperry sat down with Anthony Iannarino last week to discuss how his handling of business relationships contributes to his success.
Joe: How has your approach to relationships in business contributed to your personal or your company's success?
Anthony: My personal approach to relationships in business is based upon the idea that creating value together requires a relationship based on trust.
Mutual trust allows us to share ideas and information that might not otherwise be shared to explore potential ideas that allow us to exploit opportunities together, to solve problems, and to share business metrics that help both our companies do better work together than we would otherwise.
For example, 30 days after we start a large staffing project for a call center, we will share our turnover data. Initially some of our clients don't want to share their internal hiring data, but eventually they see it's the best way to discover how we improve our results together. Sometimes we have lower turnover numbers, and we share our on-boarding process with the client to help them improve their own results.
It's not always easy to build this trust, and sometimes there are individuals within some companies who cling to the idea that vendors are disposable. But once they have a successful business relationship, they understand the great value that a trusted business partner can help create.
Joe: How has proactive relationship management impacted both your organization's top-line and bottom-line performance?
Anthony: We schedule quarterly business review meetings with our clients. In addition to being a differentiator, this proactive approach has allowed us to improve our top and bottom line by defining the relationship as something more than a "vendor" could offer. In many cases, this approach by itself has helped a number of clients to move to us exclusively. This, in my opinion, is the response to "act like a vendor, I'll treat you like a vendor." Because we take a serious interest in our performance and how it impacts our client's performance, we are treated as something more than a vendor.
Joe: Do you have any advice for beginning relationship or account managers?
Anthony: Create value before claiming it. Understand that trust takes time to build, and you have to walk the walk before that trust will be developed as much as it can be. Have a presence. Have a presence. Have a presence. Never hide from problems or challenges, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
Thanks, Anthony! Business Relationships Members, do you have any questions for Anthony? Leave a comment if you do!
Anthony Iannarino is the President and Chief Sales Officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing, a professional sales coach, and a consultant for a firm he started, B2B Sales Coach and Consultancy.
Mr. Iannarino is also Adjunct Faculty at Capital University, where he teaches Persuasive Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Personal Selling in the School of Business.
Ron Maciejowski is the Vice President of Sales for Worthington Industries. He sits on the board of all Worthington Industrial Joint Ventures and Recreation Unlimited.
Kathy Hoyt, a senior consultant with S4 Consulting, sat down with Ron recently. The interview is transcribed below.
_______________________________________________________
Kathy Hoyt: How has your approach to handling business relationships evolved throughout your professional career?
Ron Maciejowski: In the early days (1970's) there was more of the attitude that there was enough in a sale for everyone to be profitable. The pie was always growing and all parties could profit (our company, our supplier, our customer).
Today , many people think the pie is a set size which means you have to take the profitability out of someone else's pocket. To some extent that is true if we don't get back to growing our economy in the right way and making the pie bigger. This has put much stress on the customer/supplier relationship.
Kathy: Who helped you develop business relationship skills and how?
Ron: Mentors, the guys who brought me into the business. They showed me here's how we do it. You have to build the relationship to get close to the customer. You do that by:
Kathy: How has your attitude and/or skills contributed to personal or company's success?
Ron: I learned by example. If I made a mistake, I wasn't called on it openly in public. I learned to do the same things with my people. People are much more productive if not publicly reprimanded.
I also learned to listen to "the other side" of what was being said - try to understand both sides before jumping in.
Kathy: Can you recall a time when someone handled a relationship in such a way that it saved the sale?
Ron: Yes, there's been times when we walked out better than when we walked in. When there was a problem with a customer and it was our fault we would go in, accept responsibility, offer no excuses and get the problem fixed as soon as possible.
Other opportunities can evolve if you just admit it and fix it because if you can't fix it in a timely manner it will kill the relationship. As part of supply chain, we don't have total control over a situation but the main thing is don't make excuses - just fix it.
Kathy: Can you recall a time when the absence of a relationship has lost a sale or a customer?
Ron: We had a customer recently who didn't feel we thought he was important. A quote got to this customer which was completely inaccurate - way too high.
He assumed we didn't care about his business and we were just sending a quote to get it off our desk. We had been doing about 40% to 100% of his business and he pulled it all because we didn't appear to care enough about him. It certainly was not the case (many internal discussions about what went wrong) because it in fact was very important business to us.
We are working very hard to recapture our customers trust and confidence.
Kathy: What does Worthington Industries do make relationship management a core competency?
Ron: Everyone does it differently but our philosophy of treat the customer they way you want to be treated has always applied.
The philosophy is presented during orientation and reinforced. If someone doesn't buy into the philosophy, they usually don't last very long around here.
Kathy: How do you measure to see if business relationship management is working?
Ron: Amount of business from that customer, they tell us about opportunities for new business and if they come to us for solutions to help their business we know our relationship is solid.
Kathy: What advice do you have to give to people who want to develop skills in business relationship?
Ron: Listen to what the customer is saying. Everyone wants something from you. You just have to learn what the gap is (the difference between what they have and what they want) and then figure out what I can do to fill the gap.
Kathy: What one piece of advice would you give the people who are managing customer relationships?
Ron: Put yourself in the customer's shoes and treat him the way you would want to be treated.
Give the customer timely information, correct information and do what you say you are going to do.
Kathy: How do you think the economy has affected business relationships?
Ron: Everyone is fearful right now about their companies staying in business and their keeping a job.
People are more stressed and just want more time at home. The relationships today are on a more professional level than in the past. However, it is a mistake to assume that people don't buy on personal relationships.
That gets back to building trust, gaining confidence by doing what you say you will do and making the customer look good by providing excellent service and providing a high level of perceived value.
_______________________________________________________
Thanks, Ron!
Business Relationships Members, do you have any other questions for Ron or Kathy?
Ron Maciejowski began his career with Worthington Steel in 1972 and held various sales posiions until going into management in 1981. He has served as Vice President of Sales at Worthington Industries since 2008.
Business Relationships Community, I am so excited to tell you about a new feature recently added to our website!
There is now an option to receive a daily or weekly update with all the recet activity you and your friends have had on businessrelationships.com!
If you would like a daily reminder, you will be sent a daily message--either to your businessrelationships.com messages inbox, or directly to your email inbox. You can choose where the message is sent!
If you'd prefer a weekly update, the same options are available-- the message can be sent to your email inbox or to your businessrelationships.com message inbox.
To change your message preferences, follow these instructions.
As always, I'm happy to help or answer questions!
Wal-Mart has been one of the most successful international businesses in the world. In the process of expanding to India, it is important for Wal-Mart to develop a good relationship with farmers, as farmers are a vital aspect to India’s food industry. Wal-Mart is trying to create a secure initial agricultural position that can be used for further improvement in India. In order to improve efficiency and increase the flow of goods, the company uses hyper efficient practices in their distribution model. For the past few years, Wal-Mart has been developing a close and trustworthy relationship with the farmers in India. In Haider Nagar, farmers prefer to do business with Wal-Mart because the farmers get paid well and on time. Wal-Mart distributes its products quickly to consumers, which increases farmers’ profit since they sell their product at a faster rate. Overall, the business to business relationship a company has with its partners is important because it will help the company succeed in foreign markets.
Artie Isaac, co-founder of the creative marketing strategy and advertising agency, Young Isaac, writes a funny and thought-provoking blog.
Recently he wrote a post on how to start blogging.
I thought it might be helpful for members who might be thinking about blogging but not sure where to begin.
I am only including a few of my favorites, so head over to Artie's blog to read the post in full. While you are there, read Artie's archived posts.
(Source: Artie Isaac and Speakersite)
There are several billion books, articles, and seminars about having effective meetings. To that pile, I’d like to add a very short few paragraphs.
I’ve noticed that when most meetings start, it’s by focusing immediately on the task. We seemingly can’t help ourselves. But when such a meeting occurs, there is no telling what is on the minds of the members. It may be that they have a sick child at home or an ailing parent or an impending divorce, all of which means they will be less than present at the meeting.
One manager I know starts her meetings by having everyone check in and say what’s going on in their lives. It takes some time but in the end it frees up the minds of meeting members and allows the group to more efficiently—and effectively—focus on the meeting topic.
Sometimes it’s better to focus on relationships before task to do a better job with the task. This is counterintuitive but I’ve seen it work again and again. JSperry
The Lighter Side - Trust in a Bottle
I was in the airport recently for a trip to Baltimore and grabbed a few magazines at the newsstand. One of these magazines, Science Illustrated, had lots of colorful pictures which I thought would be perfect for mindless tarmac sitting.
As I was flipping through the pages a picture of a bottle of Liquid Trust caught my eye. Liquid Trust a blend of water, alcohol, and Oxytocin is suppose to make people more trusting of you with a few squirts. It’s easy enough to find just go to Amazon.com and one can buy a less than one ounce bottle of Liquid Trust for $30.
A Squirt Will Do Ya
Also accompanying the small note about Liquid Trust was an article on Oxytocin (unfortunately the article isn’t posted on the internet). Oxytocin is best known for its role in female reproduction. However, it is also being studied for its role in communication and bonding particularly the possibility of helping those with communication impairments like autism and social disorders. A few studies using Oxytocin have been shown to increase one’s trust in other people…hence I'm guessing the reason someone created Liquid Trust. Just a few squirts and your business associates will start trusting you more.
Wow, just think of the potential. No more sales pitches of having to actually quantify the value of your product or service. No more endless training sessions on influence without authority…you’d have all the authority. Just a few squirts and your word will be taken for gospel.
Tarmac Dreaming
As I daydreamed on the tarmac a few problems start to enter my mind. If it causes others to be more trusting wouldn’t you be more trusting as well. If a customer said “I just can’t afford that price” wouldn’t you be more willing to trust them and maybe lower your price without any push back or reduction in services or price. Hmm. I wonder if one could spray others instead of yourself? What about an anti-trust potion? You’d spray on Liquid Trust while drinking an anti serum potion. That way others would be more trusting but maybe you’d be exempt.
The Next Superhero
Maybe this could lead to another Marvel Comic super hero like the Green Lantern or Superman. Instead of super strength one could have super positive communication powers. Then Disney (who recently purchased Marvel) could create a whole new theme park where one doesn’t fear communication but where say husbands and wives could come and enjoy the land of “Open and Honest Communication”.
The possibilities are endless. Well, according to the article they say the product is unproven to have any effect on trust behavior. Bummer. I guess I wasted 15 minutes that I could’ve been reading “How to Win Friends & Influence People”.
Cargill, the world's largest trader of agricultural commodities, is threatening to halt business with one of its suppliers based on information that points toward the company's deforestation activites. Sinar Mas, a major Indonesian palm oil supplier, has been accused of illegal land-clearing activities to create plantation ground for its palm oil production. Sinar Mas assures that once further investigation is completed, its business with Cargill will remain. However, other buyers, like Nestle who is switching suppliers and Unilever who scrapped a $33 million contract with Sinar Mas, are way past threatening. Their business relationship with Sinar Mas is no more, because these multinationals didn't want to harm their companies' global perception because of their supplier's actions.
Companies stop business relationships all the time; so, why is this particular situation significant from a food marketer's standpoint? None of these buyers had any real issues with what they were buying. The issues that terminated the supplier/buyer relationship had nothing to do with the quality or physical ascpect of the product that was being transacted.
Here, we see the extension of a generic commodity to what Theodore Levitt would call a product bundle + intangibles. In business relationships, there are intangibles that are added into a product bundle with the commodity/product that are remarkably influential. It was an "intangible" part of the "product bundle" that Sinar Mas created that was unwanted by its buyer. Nestle, Unilever and now Cargill can't do business anymore with Sinar Mas. But did this have anything to do with the product? Nothing. The problem was entirely in the risk of tarnishing the perception of the buyer, and how that was affected by WHO they bought palm oil from, and HOW it was being produced, but not WHAT it was.
Many factors, be it technology, globalization, or media influence, make any business relationship extremely fragile nowadays, in that absolutely EVERYTHING that is offered to the other company matters. Every aspect of what you sell/buy and how you go about it in a business relationship can be influential, even if it is "intangible."
The intangibles that are included in the product bundle are significant. So significant, in fact, that it cost Sinar Mas a relationship with some of the most recognizable food companies in the world.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/79510d4c-37af-11df-88c6-00144feabdc0.html
Theodore Levitt: http://cte.jhu.edu/courses/pii/marketing%20success%20through%20differentiation.pdf
North America is a weak spot in the global drinks business, largely because of the decline of carbonated soft drinks. With PepsiCo’s soda volume dropping 5 percent last year, according to Beverage Digest, the company had to figure out how to restructure its distribution network in order to fill customer needs more readily. Last year, PepsiCo agreed to purchase it’s two largest independent bottlers for $7.8 billion. This all comes at a time where the carbonated beverage market is losing share to healthier, non-carbonated products like juice and water. Ten years ago, soft drinks comprised 70% of PepsiCo’s beverage selection, where today they are responsible for only 45%. PepsiCo wanted to put an end to the days in which it argued with bottlers over profits and plans for new brands. When the company wanted to try new drinks or package sizes, the requests were sometimes hard for its big, independent bottlers to fulfill at the pace Pepsi wanted. That highlighted one of the central tensions: Bottlers thought Pepsi was too demanding, and Pepsi thought bottlers didn’t move fast enough. Big decisions between PepsiCo and its large bottlers too often became tug-of-wars over revenue, sales volume and profits. This shows just how willing partners must be to work with one another and just how important it is for businesses in partnerships to respond to the wants of the other. The new system put in place by PepsiCo now allows for a more integrated and seamless operation. This allows more flexibility to move with consumer’s changing tastes and compete with rivals like Coca-Cola in the short term. And in a time where big-box chains like Wal-Mart and CostCo continually demand lower prices, this acquisition allows PespiCo more negotiating leverage than its rival, leaving the boys at Coca-Cola to play catch-up. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124939009522504571.html
I’ve been trolling the Internet for articles on relationship management and have been finding hundreds of them, all free, and most worth the price. While there are many many insights provided, they were usually on very high level. I could find few essays where the conclusions merited being included on this site.
When I broadened my search a bit, I came across an article that would appeal to business-to-business sellers and buyers. It’s by Erin Anderson and Sandy D. Jap, it’s called The Dark Side of Close Relationships. It appeared in the Spring, 2005, issue of the Sloan Management Review. I believe our readers should get their hands on it for a number of reasons, not least of which is that Anderson and Jap’s research included studying over 1200 business-to-business alliances.
Anderson and Jap argue that “Relationships that seem to be doing well are often the most vulnerable to the forces of destruction that are commonly building beneath the surface of the relationship. In other words, close relationships that seem the most stable can also be the most vulnerable to decline and destruction. We refer to this phenomenon as the dark side of close relationships.” (hard not to think of Star Wars)
One of he ways this dark side manifests itself is when both firms “are confident and optimistic about their collaboration….Since no trouble can be seen on the horizon, there is no apparent reason to change course, strategy or tactics.” The problem here is the assumption that things are going well can deaden the sensitivity of one or both parties to the relationship, and they may act opportunistically. Anderson and Jap use a great example of an auto painter who had a long relationship with the brand automaker and starting using two coats instead of the required three.
This agrees with our findings that firms in a relationship tend to assume that when no noise comes from the partner, the relationship is doing very well. I remember being hired by the CEO of a huge transportation company who said to me, “I cannot believe that things are going as well with our large customers as my account managers say it is.” His insights were solid—the account managers were burying problems they thought they would be blamed for. By bringing new sensitivity to the key relationships, the company was able to forestall serious problems and even, in one case, the customer seeking another transportation company.
Anderson and Jap feel that the dark side of relationships occurs when firms focus on three mechanisms: The creation of immediate benefits [which can lessen the effects of long-term value]; the development of strong interpersonal relationships [which, if there are few of these can result in an account manager taking customers with his/her when they leave]; and unique processes and adaptations, where the firms invest in the relationship [these investments may not be reciprocated.]
How to keep the dark side from appearing in relationships? “Prevention,” Anderson and Jap say, “is the best medicine. Bolstering relationships--through regular evaluation, backup plans (having a back-up account manager, for example] and crisis management--helps create efficient. motivated and productive relationships….”
I do disagree with one conclusion that the authors suggest. They say that to keep a relationship fresh, one should change the people close to the relationship every two years or so. Assuming that he/she is effective, most accounts would scream bloody murder if their account manager should be replaced every two years.
The article is around ten pages, it is not written in over-academic prose and it supplies many examples which I cannot include, or this piece might have been as long as the Sloan essay. It’s worth your time. Check it out. JSperry
All week I have been reflecting on an experience I had last Saturday that reminded me of the power of a team. My daughter and 7 of her lower school schoolmates decided, after several months of playing chess at lunch on Wednesdays, that they would enter an all-girls chess tournament. They formed a last minute team to represent their school in the beginner's category. There were 10 other teams from around the city and state, most of whom had coaches, more experience and official team attire. Through five rounds of games, we watched the scores come in, both individually and overall team rankings. By the end of the 3rd round, we were in 2nd place. By the end of the 4th round, we'd dropped to 4th. Between games, the girls got together and shared their game experiences, asked questions of teammates and practiced game strategies with each other. The encouragement these girls were giving each other was fun to watch.
After the 5th and final round, awards were given. Individual awards were handed out first. All of our girls received a medal for participants who earned at least 1 point. Many other girls got trophies for their higher individual scores (4 or 5). Our chance at ranking in the top 4 teams seems a distance dream since none of our girls received a trophy. As the team awards were announced, our girls began to feel discouraged. They had not won 4th place and were surely out of the game. As the next awards were announced, their lower school head kneeled down to give them words of praise for their willingness to jump in and give this tournament a try, never having done anything like this before. Suddenly, we listened to the 1st place announcement. We could hardly believe our ears when they named our team as the winning team! We all almost fell off our chairs, stunned and thrilled with the news! Who knew a chess tournament could be so exciting?
So how could this be, they asked? We had no "star" players, no individuals with perfect 5 scores or even 4 scores. It was not only exciting but a wonderful lesson on the power of team. Star players can't carry a weak team. Solid teamwork can win the game!
I am a big fan of Greg Mortenson and his work in central Asia that is chronicled in Three Cups of Tea. For those who have not yet read this fascinating book, the tiltle comes from a Balti saying explaining the process of moving from stranger, to friend, to family. It is the secret for getting things done. As Mortenson moves throughout the region, mobilizing rural communities to build schools for both boys and girls, he learns from those he has gone to serve. The book is a testimony of what one person can achieve when there is passion, humility, courage, determination--and teamwork.
Although I found Greg's first book fascinating, I am even more taken by his latest book, Stones Into Schools. Here he works in Afghanistan, where his work is more dangerous and the location more remote. In this book, he reflects one of the most important lessons he has learned along his journey:
Of the many lessons that that old man imparted to me, this was perhaps the greatest. It underscores the importance of taking the time to build relationships, while simultaneously affirming the basic truth that in order to get things done in this part of the world, it is essential to listen with humility to what others have to say. The solution to every problem, Haji Ali firmly believed, begins with drinking tea. And so it has proven. (Stones into Schools, Kindle locations 379-86)
The power of listening and of building relationships is fundament to Mortenson's work. He learns that in tribal areas, although skill and courage are important, relationships are the key to success. In my experience, that's true not only in tribal societies but in 21st century business as well. If we could only spend a little more time listening and building relationships, perhaps work would be a little easier and more rewarding.
Lynne D. Johnson, Senior VP of Social Media for the Advertising Research Foundation, says it best: Social media is about relationships.
In an interview with the Social Times, Ms. Johnson was asked about social media and branding. She responded:
"It's not just about putting up a Twitter or Facebook page; it's more about engaging in relationships. Brands have to be interested in the narrative.
If you have no story about your brand, then people will make up the story for you. It's not a fad at all; it's an evolution.
Now the consumer is being thought of as the collaborator. Traditional marketing used to have these closed surveys and got feedback from people in private rooms. Now it's all open. It's not a fad."
Ms. Johnson also recited a statistic she read recently: 20% of all tweets are about brands.
Social media might not be the marketing or relationship building tool you're used to, but the fact of the matter is that you and your brand will be left in the dust if you don't tell the story yourself.
Source: SocialTimes, November 2009.
(Bonus points to all of you for reading this, because you're reading a blog!)
I am amazed by the number of people who act as if they believe this….the fake smiles….the insincere comments….the lack of integrity. Yet, some seem to believe that this is the way to build relationships. Obviously, there are several problems with this approach.
First, they confuse personal relationships with business relationships. While having good personal relationships can be a very important part of a quality b2b relationship, it is only one part.
Second, they seem to think that people can’t see through them. In my experience, most people cannot be fooled for very long.
Good relationships are built on trust and reciprocity. If either party is insincere, it won’t be long before that insincerity will interfere with, if not destroy, the relationship.
My advice is to be yourself, be direct and be honest. If what you say doesn’t match what you do, you will lose their trust and undermine the entire relationship.
Anthony Iannarino is President and Chief Sales Officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing. He is a consultant with B2B Sales Coach and Consultancy, and teaches at Capital University.
Joe Sperry sat down with Anthony Iannarino last week to discuss how his handling of business relationships contributes to his success.
Joe: How has your approach to relationships in business contributed to your personal or your company's success?
Anthony: My personal approach to relationships in business is based upon the idea that creating value together requires a relationship based on trust.
Mutual trust allows us to share ideas and information that might not otherwise be shared to explore potential ideas that allow us to exploit opportunities together, to solve problems, and to share business metrics that help both our companies do better work together than we would otherwise.
For example, 30 days after we start a large staffing project for a call center, we will share our turnover data. Initially some of our clients don't want to share their internal hiring data, but eventually they see it's the best way to discover how we improve our results together. Sometimes we have lower turnover numbers, and we share our on-boarding process with the client to help them improve their own results.
It's not always easy to build this trust, and sometimes there are individuals within some companies who cling to the idea that vendors are disposable. But once they have a successful business relationship, they understand the great value that a trusted business partner can help create.
Joe: How has proactive relationship management impacted both your organization's top-line and bottom-line performance?
Anthony: We schedule quarterly business review meetings with our clients. In addition to being a differentiator, this proactive approach has allowed us to improve our top and bottom line by defining the relationship as something more than a "vendor" could offer. In many cases, this approach by itself has helped a number of clients to move to us exclusively. This, in my opinion, is the response to "act like a vendor, I'll treat you like a vendor." Because we take a serious interest in our performance and how it impacts our client's performance, we are treated as something more than a vendor.
Joe: Do you have any advice for beginning relationship or account managers?
Anthony: Create value before claiming it. Understand that trust takes time to build, and you have to walk the walk before that trust will be developed as much as it can be. Have a presence. Have a presence. Have a presence. Never hide from problems or challenges, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
Thanks, Anthony! Business Relationships Members, do you have any questions for Anthony? Leave a comment if you do!
Anthony Iannarino is the President and Chief Sales Officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing, a professional sales coach, and a consultant for a firm he started, B2B Sales Coach and Consultancy.
Mr. Iannarino is also Adjunct Faculty at Capital University, where he teaches Persuasive Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Personal Selling in the School of Business.
As we move to more global environments, teleconferencing, or phone conferencing is becoming a norm. Here at Franklin University, we have opened new campuses in Poland, Macedonia, and will be opening in other countries in 2010. While the course delivery will be face-to-face, the collaboration necessary prior to the beginning of courses is essential. And, while face-to-face collaboration is preferable, it is not always possible so phone conferencing, or teleconferencing, has become the mode of collaboration.
Here is a laundry list of points you might consider before and during your conferences from a distance:
Prior to the conference:
1. Ensure that all participants have a copy of the agenda. Define any necessary vocabulary, or jargon that the participants from a distance might not understand. If you have a point person at a distance, you might want to have them review/add to the agenda items.
2. Do a set up of technical tools prior to the meeting. Make sure that everything is working without difficulty.
During the Conference:
1. Do introductions and specifically introduce anyone who might be new to the group.
2. Ask each person to identify themselves when they speak, especially if it is a large group.
3. It may be difficult for non-native speakers, or speakers with a different accept in English to understand a person, especially if the conference is by phone. It will be important that you remember to speak clearing and slowly (not too slow though) so that others understand. It is also important that you refrain from using slang expressions that may not be understood by speakers of other languages.
4. Provide for pauses in the discussions and ask if participants have questions.
5. Engage as much as possible, the audience at a distance.
6. If there is lag time between locations, slow down the conversation. Also, if you are using translators, provide for translation time. Plan for additional time (about 1/3 more) if a translator will be used.
7. If possible, use easily-seen graphics, drawings, or other illustrations to accompany presentations.
8. Keep a record of action items that need to be completed by all concerned in the conference. Review these items at the end of the meeting.
9. In a timely way, follow up the conference with a summary of the action items and other points.
Maybe I'm stuck in a rut, looking at, wondering about, and worrying over deals that are being put together in the current climate of aggressive competition and apparently desperate searches for new business and new customers. Especially those that involve logistics service providers and software suppliers.
Perhaps it’s tempting to grab any business that can be snared when revenues from the existing base are in decline. And, just maybe, when sales forces are compensated for bringing in business – any business – and when senior management receives all the oversight it can stand from always-demanding corporate parents, anxious shareholders, and flinty-eyed investors, the temptations are succumbed to.
How these deals relate to longer-term business plans and objectives may get lost in the survival shuffle of deep recession. Hey, I understand economic reality. But, I don’t quite understand an easy willingness – even enthusiasm – to walk away from strategic plans for long-term growth in focus industries, target companies, and “sweet spot” functional services.
Let’s put it in terms appropriate to the season. A football coach doesn’t tear up and throw away the game plan just because the team is down three at the half – not and keep his job for very long. He won’t abandon a proven strong running game for a series of long downfield passes – the Hail Marys the TV announcers love. This tactic results in, using the technical term, three-and-out. No army general will trash his battle plan without having a new one based on fresh intelligence. He – at least not since the 19th century – won’t order troops to run in all directions, firing at will.
So, I become jaded and discouraged when business leaders do the equivalent of Hail Marys, with little apparent thought about whether they’ll work, or what to do if, by chance, one actually connects. We’re concerned about a set of undisciplined, unplanned, and unmanaged business relationships, entered into only for the purpose of short-term gain. Those gains could prove to be illusory – or even horribly expensive.
What do you think about this issue? Is a willy-nilly short-term win worth the future risk? Is there time to build a long-term relationship after the deal has been struck? If so, how? Tell us about your experience(s) in this area.
Strolling the aisles of our local Whole Foods market the other day, I was struck by the variety of people shopping - and working - there. In so many retail operations the demographics of the customer base are immediately apparent from the dress, demeanor, and desperate sameness of the clientele.
Not so on this excursion. From tie-dyed T-shirts to corporate pinstripes, from tattoos and body piercings to elegant coiffures and designer handbags, a real cross-section of the population was evident, whether the immediate venue was the charcuterie, the cheese department , or the sushi bar. Myself, I was headed for the ice cream, but that's another story.
How things have changed. We are surrounded today by more open diversity in dress, thought, style, social orientation, and ethnicity than ever before. We'd better get used to it.
More than that, we'd better accept it. Not long ago, it was considered enlightened to talk about "tolerance" in matters of diversity. Ugly word, tolerance, connoting putting up with something that's not quite right, not quite the same as the rest of us, not quite as good as it should be.
Today, the real need is for embracing differences, not merely tolerating them. I don't mean ditzy gushing and singing "kumbaya." I do mean genuinely understanding and considering differences while working and living with diverse segments of our population. It's also completely okay to celebrate cultural differences, especially when the best coffee and pastries on the planet are part of the package.
Why is this important in thinking about business relationships? Simple. Not all of the organizations that would make excellent supply chain partners are just like our own organizations. Nor are all of the people in them just like us. Cultures and styles will vary, and we can't afford to let superficialities stand in the way of building great supply chains (presuming that core values and visions are compatible).
What's your experience? Are you involved in working relationships with "different" organizations? If so, has your view of the buisness world been broadened by the relationship?
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