Trust

People tend to do business with those they like and trust. How do you build trust in a business environment? Let your prospects and customers get to know you. Make sure they understand why you started your business, and why you believe in your product or service. You might also get involved in industry or neighborhood organizations where you can meet your prospects and customers in a different environment. They can experience another side of you, and get to know you as a person, not just as a vendor. While you are still selling the benefits of your product or service, you are also selling yourself. Build trust by keeping your word. From follow-up calls to delivering on time, keeping your word can be one of your most powerful sales tools. Of course unexpected things do happen, and sometimes you cannot keep your promises. When this occurs, communicate with your prospect or customer offer your help, and inquire whether the change is workable.

Listen More Than You Talk

The better your product or service fits your customers’ needs, the more sales you will have. When customers know you sincerely care about what they want and need, they will feel secure that they are making the right decision in buying from you. When you listen more than you talk, customers realize you are genuinely interested in them, and that you are trying to understand their specific situation. They feel more comfortable with you, and will soon realize you are on their side. Make active listening a regular practice, and you will find it much easier to create excellent relationships with your customers.

Ask For The Business

Relationship selling does not consist of a simple set of techniques you have to master. It is a way of conducting yourself in the business world that is flexible, cooperative and professional. When selling in a context of building healthy relationships, you are operating as an ethical, considerate and helpful human being. You are also building your communication and other personal development skills. This is not only satisfying, but also quite effective in creating a steady stream of sales for your business.

*Excerpted with permission from “Small Business Success” magazine, Volume 5, produced by Pacific Bell Directory in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Partners for Small Business Excellence.

Employee engagement is a force that drives business outcomes. Research by the Gallup organization shows that engaged employees are more productive, more profitable, more customer focused, safer and more likely to stay with your organization for the long term. Employee engagement is a strategic approach for driving improvement and organizational change. It directly affects customer engagement – which affects your bottom line. The best performing companies know that developing an employee engagement strategy that is linked to the achievement of corporate goals, will help them create long-term, sustainable success in the marketplace.

According to extensive Gallup research, only 29% of the workforce is engaged – the other 71% fall into the disengaged/actively-disengaged group:

• 29% Engaged: Work with passion and connection to the company. They drive innovation and move the organization forward
• 52% Disengaged: Essentially “checked out.” Putting time, but not energy or passion, into their work.
• 19% Actively Disengaged: Not just unhappy – also acting out their unhappiness. Undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish.

These findings are based on The Gallup Q12, a survey designed to measure employee engagement. Researchers found that there were 12 key expectations, that when satisfied, form the foundation of strong feelings of engagement:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

What do you feel the engagement levels are in your organization? What is your percentage of Engaged, Disengaged and Actively Disengaged employees? What is this costing your organization – not just in terms of revenue, but also in creating innovative solutions and attracting/retaining top talent and customers? Can you take your organization where you want it to go with your current engagement percentages?

Working on Gallup’s Q12 elements will help you positively affect employee (as well as customer) engagement in your organization. Start at the top and work your way down the list – working one or two elements at a time and getting it right will be better than trying to work on all of them at once. More engaged employees leads to more engaged customers – and that leads to more engaging profitability!

This article provided by TCT Education Committee member, Norma Dompier, President, RedBike International – Engaging People & Organizations, Norma (at) RedBikeInternational.com. Information from Gallup.com.