What would it take to make you successful?

Stockbrokers base their success on making their
clients money. Or maybe not. The follow story is one of
many similar tales I’ve heard from brokers over the years.

Back in the early seventies, when the market was
dropping faster than Richard Nixon’s approval ratings, a
stockbroker was trying to land a well-to-do contractor as a
client. She wasn’t having much luck with him over the phone
so one afternoon she stopped by his office. It wasn’t going
any better until, searching for something to build a little
rapport, she noticed a newspaper clipping mounted on a
plaque on one wall. Accompanying the story was a picture of
a little girl in a ballet outfit.

“Is that your daughter?” she asked.

It was the last thing she got to say for ten minutes.
The proud parent went on and on about the kid and her
dancing. With apparently justifiable pride. His daughter
had even been selected by George Balanchine to perform in
“The Nutcracker” at Lincoln Center one year. That seemed to
thrill the contractor even more than it must have thrilled
the girl.

A few months later, the broker heard that a world-
renowned Russian ballet troop was coming to town. She
bought two tickets. At $17.50 each, which back then, with
the stock market busily tunneling its way to hell, was a
lot of money. She sent the tickets to the contractor and
his daughter along with a warm personal note.

“Whereupon,” says the broker, “the guy turned into
what I call the Rasputin Account: Nothing I did could kill
it.” Nothing. No matter how badly her recommendations
performed, the contractor kept coming back for more.

As I said, any number of other financial consultants
tell the same type of story. Which is why brokerages teach
their people, “This business is not about making clients
money; it’s about building relationships.” That’s just not
what they tell their clients, most of whom seem to believe
they’re more interested in making money than new friends.

Truth: Once people believe you care about them,
they’ll look for reasons to do business with you. When they
look, they usually find.

A Simple Trick, a Possible Bore and Some Basic Motivation

There is of course a trick to getting a person to
believe you care about him or her. The trick to getting a
person to believe you care, is to care.

Someone once said that quoting yourself is the
hallmark of the true bore. That may well be true, but at
the risk of confirming what you might already suspect, here
it comes anyway. As Barry Maher (me) frequently says,
“Concentrate on the What’s in it for them and the What’s in
it for you will usually take care of itself.”

You can concentrate on the What’s in it for you and
still be successful. There are business people out there
who view business as war and the customer as an enemy that
has to be overcome. They con the customer about who they
are and how much they care, even if they tell the complete
truth about their products and services.

Whether or not they have a problem with how that
makes them feel about their job and their lives is their
business. This isn’t about ethics. But the longer the
relationship with that customer goes on, the more likely it
is that their true priorities are going to come out. And
when that happens, no matter how well liked they might have
been before, they’re immediately going to drop back down to
the level of just another huckster.

Truth: It’s easier just to care than to pretend to
care.

# # #

Barry Maher speaks, writes and consults on leadership, management, communications and sales. He’s also a highly-acclaimed motivational speaker. His books include, “Filling the Glass,” cited as “[One of] The Seven Essential Popular Business Books,” and the small business niche book, “Getting the Most from Your Yellow Pages Advertising,” by far the best selling book on the subject. His most recent book is “No Lie: Truth Is the Ultimate Sales Tool” which has been translated around the world. Contact Barry, read more articles and/or sign up for his monthly email newsletter at barrymaher.com barrymaher.com.

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