I recently had an email exchange with my partner regarding marketing. Now the content was not strictly to do with marketing, but it highlights the power of personal connections.

Detailed within was a story of two companies dealing in manufacture and sale of modems (of the old fashioned 56k kind). One company produced modems that were fantastically reliable, the customer had a huge bank of them that never failed. They were so reliable the customer couldn’t remember having to call tech support even once but he’d heard they were best in the business on that front.

Company number two produced a product that was distinctly inferior, with constant failures and nagging issues. These were so frequent that a support rep was usually onsite about once a week.

Now, when that customer needed to expand with a whole new bank of modems, which company do you think won the business? It wasn’t the one you’d expect. Because the same support guy from company B came around every week, got to know the customer on a wife and kids basis, was eventually invited to social outings and generally felt part of the team, a relationship was built that transcended product quality.

The sales guy played almost no role in the decision. The decision was made on the basis of a low paid company employee doing a great job, becoming a real person to the customer and gaining an understanding of the customer company A simply couldn’t match.

As a sales manager, account director or BDM, your people on the ground mean more to your business than you do. Be actively involved in with your support team. Hire the right people to put in front of your customers, empower them to make decisions in the best interest of the customer and get to know them personally. Above all, inspire them to do great things.

Now the other side of the story is that poor sales guy at company A. He had the best product, an amazing support team at the ready and perfect solution in place yet still lost out in the end. When questioned, his response was simple.

“I didn’t have to call the customer unless he wanted something. I didn’t have a personal relationship and that ultimately lost me the business”.

The lesson here is to build relationships surpassing the superficial demands of product and service. You do this by calling when your customer doesn’t need a thing, just to see how their weekend was, find out what keeps them awake at night and what the kids soccer score was. Combine this with a great product or service and amazing front line people, the success of your company will take care of itself.

TL;DR:

The people around us place far less importance on perfection than we expect of ourselves. Bonds are built over sharing complaints and celebration in equal measure, and the secret to strong relationships is to share them frequently. This is the same for business, friends and family.