Small Business Revolution

8Relationships

RELAX. I'M NOT going to get into those other kinds of relationships here. Instead, I want to talk about your relationships with leads, prospects, and customers.

We just have gone through quite a long list of places where you can be visible, and you should have made a list of everywhere you currently are visible and some of the places that may be worth adding to your mix.

Next, I want to make some important distinctions between the different statuses or profiles of people who take an interest in your business. This is crucial because in my experience, many businesses think of people in a binary way: my current buyers, and everyone else.

This is illustrated by a friend of mine who was in the market for a new car a few years ago. He had a young family with three kids and showed up at a dealership one day. The couple had done their homework and knew not only the brand of vehicle they wanted, but the exact model and even the trim package. Oh, and they were paying cash, which in those days was considered good.¹ The only decision was the color of the van.

The salesman had been in the business for years, and treated them well through the buying process. They shook hands and left. My friend says that 20 years later, he has yet to hear from the salesman since the day they bought that van.

Just think about that for a minute. The buyers knew exactly what they wanted, so the selling process was quick and really only an order-taking process. They paid cash. The salesman might ...