It's the Customer, Stupid!: 34 Wake-up Calls to Help You Stay Client-Focused

Chapter 15. You Can Only Be Responsible for One-Half of a Relationship—Yours!

Customers do business with people they like. Be nice; it pays.

There's no question about it; folks would rather do business with people they like, and they will go out of their way to avoid people they don't like, regardless of price. Some of this goes to the very issue of how we network with one another.

A good question to pose: Is my net working? When I do business with people, am I more interested in what's in it for me or what I can bring to the relationship with the client? An obvious and misplaced focus on ourselves is one reason why clients fire us.

When all things are relatively equal, people want to do business with people with whom they already have a relationship. That's the nature of today's highly competitive business environment. The answer is clearly found in one word that we've already discussed at length: TRUST. Likability, perhaps more than ever, is the great equalizer in relationships. Even if you have the best price or the best terms, it may have less influence on the client's decision to do business than the rapport that you've established.

Your likability can be defined in so many ways but the common ground that people share is the very essence of what networking is all about. Are you confident that you give off good vibrations to the folks with whom you do business? Try putting a smile on your face; that's step number one.

Social science research suggests that people judge one another ...