There is one, often overlooked, skill within any kind of business that makes success a hell of a lot easier.
Indeed this ability makes life in general a whole heap easier!
This is a skill that is not we all possess.
It’s an ability we are born with and very seldom even give a second thought to.
What I’m talking about is the ability to develop and grow relationships and rapport with others.
We may just take this for granted, BUT spend time cultivating the ability and it WILL pay dividends.
To give you an illustration of what I’m talking about, let’s imagine I meet you for the first time in the street, and I ask you to give me a lift to a destination 100’s of miles away.
The vast majority of us would respond in the negative (probably with a response ending in ‘…… off’!).
OK, now let’s revisit that situation, but this time replace the stranger with your best friend.
On this occasion you are at the very least going to help your friend get to his desired destination.
Depending on the strength of your relationship, you may even volunteer to drive them all the way.
And this is the point, the stronger the relationship, the rapport, the connection between you and the people in your life, the more you will do for them and the more they will do for you.
Let’s imagine this in a purely business context.
When you make the effort to build a relationship, the people you deal with are more prepared to listen to what you have to say…
They will be more prepared to trust you and go along with your suggestions…
Ultimately they will be more willing to spend their hard earned cash on products or services that you are either providing or recommending.
The upshot of all this is, as I mentioned earlier, it makes your life as a marketer much easier.
You can spend less times using ‘strategies’ and ‘tricks’ and ‘hypnosis’ or whatever other techniques people come up with to persuade people to part with their cash.
People like buying, but they don’t like being sold to.
Add to this the fact that people also buy from people they like….
…and you can see this is not just hippy/dippy, ‘lets make the world a better place’ sort of mentality.
Building relationships is very much the oil that will make sure your marketing engine runs smoothly.
Here’s the bad news though.
Those that try to build relationships and rapport as a strategy rather something that they genuinely want to do, will get spotted a mile off.
You, like me, can spot a fake from a thousand yards.
So how do you, as a marketer, build relationships?
The simple answer is to have a GENUINE interest in the people you deal with, with a real desire to help them.
Focus on the long term relationship and not the quick buck.
In business it has been shown time and time again that in the long term, the value of a relationship is going to be worth much more than a single transaction.
I understand that when cash is tight and you are desperately trying to make it online, the focus can easily slip from the people to the profit.
But once profit becomes the only focus, the relationship with your customer suffers.
The consequence of this is that you make extra work for yourself replacing those customers you stung with poor products/recommendations.
Of course this is not about you growing your hair long (chance would be a fine thing in my case!), or wearing flowers in your hair.
Hopefully it is fairly obvious that being ‘decent’ and taking the time to build relationships and rapport, is not at odds with being business like…
…On the contrary, in the long term it actually makes your long-term success that much easier.
So if you are not already, try consciously thinking about your list as real people. Think about their wants and needs…
…and then try your best to meet those wants and needs.
And yes, maybe it just might make the online world a better place 😉
I’d be interested in your thoughts and what your experience has been with other marketers online.
